The Days Worth Living
by Dra-goonx
Summary: Hey all, it's me Macchi! Yeah, yeah,I know I died...back then, but I'm back. Yep, I'm ready to tell Hao...oh great. Hao is engaged with Tamao. With Tamao! Sheesh, well looks like I'll be breaking up the two, with a little help of course." (Finished)
1. Chapter 1

This was a requested fanfic by Kiyuu-chan from Shaman Online. At first, at my fanfics were horrible, like really horrible, like so bad...they really sucked. They were lifeless and never meant to ever be seen, but this story was different in its own way. I have to admit Macchi was one of the funniest, destructive, and fun characters that I have written about in my short life. No matter what, there was always a twist or a turn in her. This story was like my summer-project (yeah took me a whole summer to write/type, that tells you how much time I take on things). Well I hope everyone likes it. First posted fanfic, not my first fanfic ever. So in short, this fanfic is dedicated to Kiyuu-chan.

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Shaman King, unless they had stocks then I would and I really would like to own it, but that's life. Also, as far as I know, I have not borrowed from anyone, so I'm sorry if that seems that way, but after you see how I write...yeah. So that's just to clear everything up. Also, sorry for any errors in the fanfic, but it was edited to the best of my ability.

Chapter 1

Macchi slowly opened her eyes. A small campfire illuminated the dark forest, and Hao was sitting by it glazing into its untamed nature. Macchi was completely lost in the midst of things. The last thing she remembered was being smashed to death with Mari and Kanna. The place she was at now was completely different. Nothing looked the same. She put her hand on her head. It was dizzy from a horrible headache. Macchi looked back at Hao. He was alone and hundreds of scars covered his body. Hao glimpsed over at her and smile.

"Well, I see you're awake." Hao complimented. Macchi got up from her resting position and leaned against a rock staring back at Hao. Hao stopped smiling and continued to gaze back to the fire. Macchi and Hao both sat there silently. Neither of the two wanting to start something. It was unusually quite around the fire. Usually Opacho was ranting about something or Kanna was yelling at Mari to stop stealing her cigars. There was only the cold night wind. Macchi huddled herself to keep warm. The fire erupted and became brighter. Macchi looked up to see Hao's hand out stretched into the fire.

"Thanks." Macchi whimpered. Hao remained silent. 'Geez! Hao is never like this! Usually he says something or talks about something!' Macchi thought. Macchi got up and walked around the fire. Hao was completely unaware of her movements. Macchi then sat down by Hao. Hao still was didn't know what she was doing. Macchi heart sank into her chest, it seemed to beat faster and lighter. She didn't know why she felt this way. She used to view Hao as more of a friend and never had her heart feel like this. Macchi attempted to put her arms around Hao, but she stopped. Her heart began to sink even deeper. She sat back down and looked into Hao's fiery eyes. She lost herself in gazing them. They seemed to go on forever. Hao's cough brought her back to reality. Macchi moved closer to Hao. "Hey, you ok? You don't seem like yourself. Really, you don't. Where is everybody? Did you cut your hair?" She asked. Hao sighed and didn't even brother to look at Macchi. "Hey...where's Jack? If anyone dared played with him I'll..." The doll was tossed to Macchi. It was smashed and ripped with the stuffing leaking out. Macchi picked up the doll and examined it. "Well at it needs is a stitch here and there..."

"You don't need to fix it." Hao interrupted. Macchi looked at Hao. He still was gazing into the fire. It was slowly dying down. Macchi gave a semblance to a smile.

"Oh...no, you don't have to fix, it is my dol..."

"The shaman fight is over." Hao said. Macchi sat their spellbound. Suddenly a burst of joy overcame her.

"Hao, why didn't you tell me you won?! You must be tired, can I get you..."

"I LOST!" Hao screamed still looking fire. Macchi's joy quickly turned to despair. Macchi then became to think deeply about what this all meant.

"So that means...it's been three years since this all started." Macchi said. Hao nodded. Once Macchi said that she looked at Hao more closely. His chin was more defined and his eyes had narrowed slightly. His hair was also longer and a bit darker. Macchi looked down at herself and saw she also grow as well. Her original dress was ripped at the bottom substituted with a pair of khaki pants, how they got there, even Macchi doesn't know. Her hair had grown about an inch and her hands were slender and more graceful unlike the clumsy childish hands she used to have. "I thought I died..." Macchi said. Hao nodded.

"Yep. I...just revived you about an hour ago. I'm surprised it worked so well." Hao explained. After saying that Macchi had her arms around Hao. Her head leaned down to his head. Hao found it interesting for Macchi to be acting like this.

"Thank you...I...I can't tell you how grateful I am. Where you...able to revive anyone else?" Macchi said. Hao sighed.

"I'm terribly sorry. I couldn't. Everyone died, and to revive them all...it was too much. You...you were the only one I could revive." Hao said in remorse. Macchi looked at the ground.

'The only one...'.

"And now...Yoh and I have formed a peace between shamans. All the remaining shamans are to report to the Asakura mansion outside of Edo." Hao explained. Macchi hugged Hao tighter.

'I...was the only one he could save.'

"Um...Macchi. Could you please stop choking me!" Hao yelled. Macchi quickly released her grip and moved a foot away from Hao in fear. "Sorry about that. I'm in a bad mood." Hao said trying to redeem himself.

"Yeah! I could tell!" Macchi said back. Hao sighed. They both stared at the fire. It continued to die, getting weaker with each pasting wind. Hao slowly moved closer to Macchi. Hao reached for her hand and she flipped into a deep sleep falling in Hao's lap. Hao looked at her in awe. She was out cold. Hao's hand twitched. He placed it in her soft pumpkin hair. He slowly stroked her hair making it a bit unkempt, but Hao had never felt something so beautiful to his eyes. Hao also drifted off into a slumber. Macchi looked back at Hao. Macchi knew he was a light sleeper. She figured it out when Kanna tried to put shaving cream on his face and tried to glue his body to the ground. Macchi looked back up at Hao. She giggled to herself. 'I can't believe! He actually touched my hair! Oh...Hao...I think...no...I 'like' you.' Macchi then went to sleep for real this time.

Macchi found her head on Hao's robe. As she woke up she looked around to see if Mari was waiting for her, but then she remembered. Mari was dead. She then looked around for Hao. He was up on a rock looking to the east. Macchi slowly got up and drifted over to the rock. Hao looked over to her. "We're leaving once you're ready." Hao said. His voice was harsher than it was last night.

"Well, sorry for being late." Macchi talked back. Hao shook his head. He jumped off he rock and when over to his robe. He flung it over his shoulder and clipped the buckles. "So how far we have to go?" Macchi asked. Hao thought for a moment and looked to the east.

"We'll be there by noon if we go a medium pace." Hao said. Macchi began to follow Hao. The dirt trail was relativity narrow and rocks darted up from the ground. Macchi legs were dying from the trip. Hao continued to walk with little sign of pain or fatigue. As a matter in fact, he was almost running. It was about ten o'clock when Macchi went to lean against a tree. "I'm sorry...but I have to...stop." Macchi panted. Hao looked back at her. Macchi felt like he would say something like 'Come on you wimp!' or if he was nice he say, 'Ok...but only for a minute'. Hao remained silent and waited for her. She found it odd that Hao was so quite. Macchi began to walk again after five minutes. Hao continued out in front. "So Hao...what are we doing at this meeting thingy?" Macchi asked. Hao remained silent for a while.

"To hear the wishes of the king. One, which was already made, was I had immortality taken away. From there I don't know what sick prank he'll pull next." Hao scorned. Macchi remained silent after that. The sun was overhead when Macchi finally saw the Asakura mansion. She nearly came to stop. The whole home has at least an acre and the main building was as big as a supermarket. Hao was already half way down the cliff when Macchi started up again. The massive doors were wide opened. Macchi slowly watched through them. The whole place had order, much unlike her home. Everything had its place. The statues were clean and in an orderly fashion. The trees were trimmed and planted in rows. The front garden had perfect symmetry. Then that annoying pink hair girl showed up.

"Hao." Tamao said. Both walked right toward each other. Macchi nearly gasped. "It's so good to see you." Tamao said sweetly. Macchi stood there shocked. Their lips had met in a short kiss. 'Hao and...HER?!' Macchi screamed in her mind. Tamao then noticed Macchi, Tamao considered her the annoying red head from long ago. "Come, Lord Yoh is about to began as soon as Horo wakes up." Tamao said. She hugged Hao's arm and he led her to the briefing room. Macchi still stood there.

"Oh...my...god! SHE! She of all people?!" said to herself. Macchi slapped herself. Nope, it wasn't a dream. Maybe it was hell, but even this wouldn't happen in hell. Hell was where there was a red imp poking you with a hot trident, giggling its little head off from your pain. Macchi followed the two over to where ever they were going. Tamao was still all over Hao. Both were completely unaware of her presence. Macchi was hiding behind a tree as the two stopped by the small pond.

"Wow, Hao. How long has it been? A year?" Tamao asked. Hao nodded. "So...you think...we're ready to get...married?" Tamao then asked. Macchi almost choked. 'Hao marring her?!'

"I think we should wait. I meant...we should wait for a bit longer because to test our love." Hao answered. 'Oh god! I'm going to puke!'

"So who was that girl you were with?"

"Oh her? You don't remember her? Macchi? The one with the pumpkin doll." Hao said. Tamao nodded.

"Oh her. Yeah she's...strange. I though she died though."

"Oh she died, but I revived her."

"Anyway reason why?"

"Cause everyone else was an idiot."

"HAO! You're going to pay for saying that!" Macchi yelled and came out of her hiding spot. Her arm was tense and her finger was pointing straight at him.

"Macchi, what were you doing?" Hao asked. Macchi then realized what she did. She then mumbled on, cursing to herself. "Anyways, let's go to the king's speech Tamao." Hao said to Tamao. Macchi continued to follow them, but they whispered to each other so Macchi couldn't hear them.

In the briefing room nearly every shaman was there. Faust, Horo, Pilica, Ryu, Ren, Jun, everyone but Hao's team. Tamao and Hao sat together in the front. When Macchi entered the room, everyone started at her.

"Hey, it's one of the Hanagumi." Someone whispered.

"I thought she was dead!"

"Why is SHE here?" and the whispers continued on. Macchi could hear most of them and could have beat up anyone who said those things, but she thought it wise to keep a low profile. Macchi looked over at Hao and Tamao. A stingy surge went through her body. 'I swear, she makes me sick.' Suddenly Manta came through the door panting. He went to the podium ad spoke into the microphone.

"Due to the bir-... family affairs, Yoh is unable to give his speech." Manta said. Everyone groaned and whispered to each other.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Pilica said. Pilica was a foot away from Macchi with Jeanne right beside her.

"You don't mean! Oh! I can't believe it! Hey Manta! Is it a boy or a girl?" Jeanne yelled across the room. Manta froze. The whole room then bombarded Manta with questions about Yoh's baby.

"Hey, you two. Who's the mother?" Macchi asked Pilica and Jeanne. Both slowly turned to see the horrible monstrosity. Both shrieked when they saw her.

"I thought you were dead!"

"Since when were you invited?" Both yelled at her at the same time.

"Aww...yes, I was dead, but now I'm back, and I came with Hao." Macchi answered them though still awaiting her question to be answered.

"I can't believe Hao traveled with a girl like you." Pilica remarked. Jeanne nodded in agreement. "And besides, why do what so about the mother so much!?"

"Cause...I wanted to?" Macchi answered. 'Geez, here I go asking nicely and I get harassed by these two ditzs.' Macchi then thought to herself.

"Anna is the mother." Jeanne said. Macchi stared blankly at her.

"Anna? She's only sixteen and she already has a kid!?" Macchi screamed. The other two girls nodded. Macchi was completely shocked having her mind in the gutter, knowing what has to be done to have a child. "Oh...god...I'm going to be sick."

"People! Please! I have an announcement to make!" Manta yelled into the microphone. The blast blared everyone's ears. The questions stopped all eager to hear the king's wish. Manta wiped his forehead from all the sweat and unfolded the white parchment.

"By the Shaman King's order...

Shaman will be paired in groups and go to out lying regions to exorcise renegade ghosts and to covert more people into the Shaman community. Group assignments are as followed:

Group 1: Hao, Tamao, and Horo. You are going to the northern island of Japan.

Group 2: Jun, Ren, and...Pilica. You will go to China.

Group 3: Ryu, Chocalove, and Jeanne. You'll be heading to the Americas.

Group 4: Faust, Lyserg, and...Macchi 'Who ever that is!' you'll be heading to London.

Each group will depart in two days.

From your King,

Yoh Asakura

The groups then began to form without much talking. Faust and Lyserg where both standing by the podium, they were waiting for Macchi to come. Faust read the paper about the objectives.

"So who's...Macchi? I swore I heard that name before." Lyserg said. He looked around to see who wasn't paired.

"Mati? That sounds short for Matilda. Who ever she is, I just hope she wasn't like that crazy leader of the Hanagumi." Faust said with Macchi stomping over.

"WHAT WAS WRONG WITH KANNA? YOU LIKE TO SAY THAT TO MY FACE?!" Macchi screamed at the giant. Faust had to look down to see her.

"Oh so you're Macchi... 'Great...just like their crazy leader.' Well it's nice to meet you. 'Not really'." Faust said both out loud and in his mind. Lyserg stuck out his hand.

"Hello, I'm Lyserg, a pleasure to meet you." Lyserg said with a strong English accent. Macchi tried to hold her laughter in.

"Oh my god! You sound just like Pif!" Macchi laughed.

"Pif? Who's Pif." Lyserg asked confused. Obviously Lyserg had never seen South Park in his life.

"I'm so sorry about that. So...what do we do?" Macchi asked. Faust looked back at the paper carefully reading every line.

"It be nice if Yoh wrote this is German or English or something besides these crazy Japanese characters!" Faust complained. Macchi grabbed the paper from him and began to read. "Excuse me, I was reading that."

"You read too slow." Macchi said back. Faust was utterly disgusted being told by a teenager he didn't read fast enough. "Oh...ok...first we're suppose to exorcise the ghost know as the Bloody Hook. Then we meet with the... 'Bloody Forsaken', and lastly we are to investigate the Bloody Hound Pub about a ghost trouble there. What's with all the bloody stuff?" Macchi read.

"It's like a common adjective in England. Like, 'That was a bloody good show." Lyserg explained.

"What the hell is an adjective? And the way you used it, it was more like an adverb."

"How do you not know what the parts of speech, let you lecture me on how I used them?! Lyserg argued back.

"Please, enough arguing. We're leaving in two days. Lets not...kill ourselves before than." Faust said trying to ease the two. Macchi pouted and walked to the exit. "Meet right here two days from now." Faust called over to her. She looked at Faust, turned her head back, and exited the room. "Well...I think we have a very interesting partner." Faust said.

"Yeah, and cute..." Lyserg said without thinking. Faust stepped away from Lyserg a foot or so.

"Anyway, I'll be getting the provisions for the trip." Faust told Lyserg. Lyserg just nodded still staring at the door. Faust walked out the other way. "Yep this gets even more interesting with every day I'm here."

Macchi moved swiftly through the brush with Lyserg right behind her. Macchi stopped by the pond once again to see Hao and Tamao sitting there next to the pond. Lyserg also watched the two.

"Aww...that is so cute." Lyserg whispered.

"God! That is so sick." Macchi whispered. Macchi reached into her khaki pocket pulling out a dart and a bamboo stick. 'Thank god I kept this thing around. One of these babies will put you out for a day. If I can hit Tamao, I can then move in and take Hao as my own..."

"Hey Macchi." Lyserg said. Macchi swung and screamed into the bamboo stick launching the dart right into Lyserg's shoulder. He quickly pulled the dart out, his eyes when pale and he fell to the ground.

"Oh my God! Not him! And that was my last dart!" Macchi screamed into her mind. She stared back at Tamao. "Mark my words...Hao will be mine!" Macchi promised herself. She grabbed Lyserg by the feet and pulled him back into the mansion. Tamao looked around at the bushes.

"Did you hear something?" Tamao asked Hao. Hao shook his head. "Oh maybe it just my imagination, so where were we...oh. I'm glad we got paired together. It will get us away from that...you know who." Tamao said. She leaned against Hao where Hao caught her and rubbed her soft pink hair.

"I know what you mean. Macchi can be very annoying at times and tricky. I'd watch your back. She knows far too many pranks." Hao warned her, one of which was foiled by Lyserg.

Well that wasn't so bad, was it? I have the whole story done; it's a simple matter of editing and the alternate ending...


	2. Chapter 2

Well, I like to say thanks for all the people that reviewed my first chapter . So now...here's...

Chapter 2

Macchi gasped for air as she got out the plane and hugged the ground. "Land! Ah thank God! I never want to be in a plane that long again!" Macchi said in rejoice.

"That's too bad, cause the way back is longer." Lyserg commented. He barely got out of the plane still dizzy from Macchi's sleep dart. He was out for a good eighteen hours and was still feeling the side effects of the poison. Faust got off last and took breath of air.

"Good old European air. Nothing else like it." Faust said. The zombie saluted Faust and went to park the jet into a near by hanger and to unload the luggage. "So how does it feel to be back in England, Lyserg?" Faust asked.

"The same. Still damp and memories that should be forgotten. There are a...few things different though." Lyserg said. He then stared at Macchi. 'Matilda...'. Faust got the queue to step back again.

"So do you two have your spirits ready?" Faust asked. Lyserg nodded, but Macchi gasped.

"Oh shot! I need thread, or some fabric material to fix Jack!" Macchi gasped. She pulled out Jack from her backpack, the poor thing was still broken and the stuffing was still leaking out. She gave her doll a fast hug and put back inside her backpack.

"Hey, its ok. I know this great place where they have all the fabric in the world." Lyserg said. Macchi just looked at him disgusted.

"How do you know where a good fabric shop is?" Macchi asked. Lyserg rubbed the back of his in shame.

"Well I got my reasons..." He answered. Then Morphine popped out of Lyserg pocket giggling.

"Come on, why don't you tell her." She giggled. Lyserg tried to grab her, but being a fairy, she easily dodged his attempts. "It's not a bad thing to play dres-"Lyserg then sealed Morphine mouth and put her back in his pocket.

"So you use to play dress up? I used play that too, you know. So what did Morphine wear, a blue blouse?" Macchi intimated Lyserg.

"Please, it was a phase! My parents were gone, I needed guidance and-"

"Yeah, I did have a blue blouse, and one day Lyserg made this really cute shirt and had my name in red, and then-." Morphine was sealed up again back into Lyserg's pocket.

"Oh so you to make little clothes... 'Man, this guy is freaking!'...so that's why you know about the store." Macchi said. Lyserg looked down in despair.

"Please let's just go get this over with." Lyserg sighed.

The group was walking back from their battle with the Bloody Hook. Beaten and worn, Faust searched for a hotel of some kind while leaving Lyserg and Macchi with a cell phone. "That Hook guy was obsessive! He was still around because he didn't kill his hundredth person. God, I'm so glad he's gone." Macchi complained. Lyserg blushed red and nodded. Macchi saw his red cheeks. "Hey you ok, you're...blushing...at me?'" Macchi said. Lyserg quickly put on a straight face with his rosy feeling bleeding through. Macchi stopped right in front of a bookstore and stared at the window. Lyserg noticed Macchi had stopped and looked at the book.

101 Ways to Win A Guy's Heart from another Girl!

By: J.K. Jokin

Price: £ 50

"Dude...what's the freaky f?" Macchi asked. Lyserg examined the ad.

"Oh, that's the symbol for the pound. So the book is fifty pounds" Lyserg said.

"Fifty pounds! Is that in meat or something?" Macchi screamed. Lyserg looked at Macchi and sighed.

"A pound is the English currency." Lyserg explained, but Macchi had already ran into the store and had bought the book.

"I hope you don't mind if I put it on your credit card." Macchi said. She held the book in her hands and stared at the book grinning. 'My salvation! My sweet salvation!'.

'This isn't my credit card...it looks like...Tamao's.' Lyserg was thinking as he examined the card. How could Macchi have Tamao's card? Surely there was must be some mistake in his examination. Before he could finish, Lyserg was grabbed into a dark alley and pulled inside. Macchi turned around to find him missing. She was then abducted as well. The hooded man blindfolded and threw her into a car. "Macchi are you ok?!" Lyserg's voice said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Macchi said. Lyserg moved around with his hands tied and his legs buckled together. He finally found Macchi on accident.

"Macchi these could be our last moments..." Lyserg said. "Could I have a...kiss." His voice said weaker than before. Macchi shoved the mass of weight off of her.

"No! I don't believe in that last love crap." Macchi screamed at Lyserg. Lyserg began to cry to himself, fearing of what could happen. Macchi pulled her hands under her legs and removed her blindfold. "Now time to catch up on my reading." Macchi said. Macchi slowly opened the book. 'Way #1: Calling the man of your dreams is always a good idea, even when he's with the opponent (his girlfriend). Calling him will have him notice you more as a person. Be very casual and every once in a while being a bit sexy. Main objective to get him to notice you!'. "Hey that sound easy!" Macchi said. She tried to reach for the cell phone in her pocket by her other hand got in the way. "Lyserg!" Macchi said as she ripped his blindfold off. "Get the cell phone out of my pocket!" Macchi then commanded him. Lyserg looked at her pocket. His hands slowly moved to her pocket. Suddenly the car hit a bump. Macchi's face became bright red. "YOU SICK PREVERT!!!" Macchi screamed at Lyserg. She threw her arms around and knocked him to the other side of the car. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TO TOUCH MY...MY...MY BUTT! YOU ARE SO SICK!" Macchi continued to scream at Lyserg. She then found the cell phone right next to her. "Oh, thanks for getting the cell." Macchi said. Lyserg face was swollen and he just nodded.

'Oh my...it was so...soft...' Lyserg thought. Macchi dialed a number. She held the phone to her ear.

"Hey Faust it's me, Macchi." Macchi said. A slight pause. "Yeah, we're ok, we just got abducted by some wacko." Another pause. "Oh ok, so these are the Bloody Forsaken? Ok, well you know where to find us, bye." Macchi hung up the phone. Macchi then dialed the second number.

Hao was watching the sea collide into the rocks. Tamao walked over to him and sat right next to him. It was about eleven in the morning. Tamao leaned on Hao as usual and looked up at him. "Hao, do want to...do something tonight." Tamao asked. Hao looked down and rubbed her hair.

"Sure what did you have in mind." Hao asked her. Tamao blushed slightly.

"I don't know...maybe like...dinner or go walk in the moonlight." Tamao proposed. Hao smiled and Tamao replied back with one. "Hao, you are so...kind and...sweet...I really think...you know...I think we're ready..." Tamao barely got out. Hao looked into Tamao's eyes.

"You think we are?" Hao asked. Tamao nodded. Hao put his arm around Tamao and brought her closer to him. "Ok...I'll think about it and start planning-." The cell phone then rang. "Wonder who that could be." Hao said. He pressed the on button and held the phone to his ear. "Hello?" Hao said into the phone.

"Hey Hao, how's it going?" The voice said.

"Macchi?!" Hao answered back.

"Yep...sooooooo you doing anything?"

"If you wanted to go out on a date, we can't cause your in England."

"Oh no! I'm just calling...you know...you do like green eye shadow or purple?"

"Listen Macchi, I really don't have time for this."

"Should I cut my hair...I don't know, short hair is kind of sexy."

"Macchi! I'm busy! Call me later, ok."

"Oh ok, I've been abducted anyway, bye!"

Hao turned the blasted phone off.

"That was Macchi, wasn't it?" Tamao said. Hao nodded. "So what did she call for?" Tamao asked.

"I don't know, she was acting weird again, like the night I revived her..." Hao explained.

"Hao...did you ever...liked her before?" Tamao asked. Hao remained silent for a few seconds.

"Yes...I did. I remember how...we...I recruited her because I knew one day I would need a wife. She seemed so innocence and lost, perfect for being brainwashed. When she died I lost a bit of hope in my plans, and I meet you." Hao said. Tamao nodded.

"I'm not jealous of you Hao. I use to love Yoh for the longest time, but I...never had a good reason why I did. It was that magical feeling, the one I have for you and I understand it." Tamao replied back. Hao smiled.

"Thanks..."

Macchi threw the phone to Lyserg.

"If you want to make any calls I make them now." Macchi told Lyserg. Lyserg picked up the phone and dropped into his pocket.

"So you do...'like' anyone?" Lyserg asked. Macchi looked at him dumbfounded. "You know...someone you consider...special." Lyserg continued on.

"If I tell you, you have to tell me..." Macchi proposed. Lyserg gulped.

"Ok...I'll play this game." Lyserg said. Macchi thought for a moment.

"Ok...I really like Hao. He's always been like a father to me, guiding me, helping me. I don't what I do without him." Macchi said. Lyserg looked down. "Ok, now you have to tell who you like!" Macchi said. Lyserg blushed a bright scarlet red. "Come on, I told you so you have to tell me."

"There's two..." Lyserg said. Macchi quieted down to hear Lyserg. "You and...and..." Lyserg whispered the final name.

"So why do you like me? You better not tell it's because of my body!" Macchi said.

"Oh no...it's just...you and I are alike...both orphans...and I thought...you know...you may like me..." Lyserg slowly said.

'In truth I don't. You're pretty annoying and too girly for me.' Macchi thought.

"And the other...she...she's so beautiful and perfect. So sweet...and kind...I really wish I could at least talk to her..." Lyserg continued on.

"Is it some movie star? Cause I can understand that." Macchi said. Lyserg shook his head.

"No...it's....Ta-ta...Tam-tam...Tamao..." Lyserg muttered. Macchi gasped. "No matter how I try...I freeze right in front of her...If I spoke...even once...I think we be...together." Lyserg said. Macchi lightly clapped her hands.

"That is so...deep." Macchi said. 'Well...not really. He's just obsessive and can't get the words out.' Macchi thought. "Hey! We could work together! I want Hao and you want Tamao, so if I get Hao, then you get your Tamao!" Macchi said.

"That sounds so easy...but you don't know how bad I get in front of her." Lyserg said meekly.

"That's ok...I'll teach you...kind of, you know, practice your lines and stuff." Macchi said. Lyserg smiled and a faint tear ran down his face.

"Thank you..." Lyserg whispered. The car came to a shrieking halt. Both Macchi and Lyserg were slammed into the back by the halt. The doors opened and the hooded man grabbed the two and brought them inside a deserted temple. They were pushed into the main altar; there stood a cloaked figure. Macchi was thrown to her knees while Lyserg was held in place. The cloaked figure turned around, his face was hidden behind a steel mask with a long grim scar that ran across the right eye. He looked at both of them and he bent down to Macchi's level. His leather glove moved down her face. He stood back up and looked back at Lyserg.

"You are here on behave of Yoh, correct?" The voice said. Lyserg nodded. The figure looked around the two. Macchi and Lyserg watched as the figure encircled them. He stopped in front of Macchi. "I refuse to join his factor. His ambitions are unworthy of the Bloody Forsaken." The figure spoke.

"What the hell is the Bloody Forsaken?!" Macchi screamed at the figure. The guard slapped Macchi right across the face.

"Don't speak unless you are spoken to!" The guard commanded her. He readied his hand for another strike when the figure garbed his arm.

"That's enough!" The figure yelled back. He threw the guard across the room. "I believe it's right to explain ourselves. We are the new generation of shaman. We want the whole world to succumb to the will of the Great Spirit and we don't believe in any 'Shaman King'." The figure explained. He continued to encircle the two. "All that fight was for was to kill off the old to bring in the new. We are that new. We'll be holding you captive until your leader agrees to our terms. First, he resigns from his 'throne'. Second, I want you." The figure pointed at Macchi. "To become my queen. What do you say?" The figure said.

"Well first off, Yoh just had a baby so he'll probably be out for another week. Secondly, No! I have no interest in becoming your wife. Finally, Faust is right behind you." Macchi said. The figure turned around when he was knocked against the wall by a skeleton. Lyserg jabbed the guard next to him and Zeruel appeared right beside his master. The other guards quickly retreated when they saw the angel. The leader looked up to see the angel, hanging overhead with its heavenly blade ready. Skeletons surrounded the building and came swarming through the door. Pouring into the church like a bunch of cockroaches. Faust entered last with a unit of bodyguards protecting him. The group was cornered into a corner where they cowered like frightened children. Zeruel then disappeared and Macchi was back on her feet. Faust stared down at the leader.

"Now...let's talk on my terms." Faust scorned at the leader.

"Wow...that was pretty fast." Macchi said. Lyserg nodded in agreement. Faust opened the van door and unlocked the car. "I find hard to believe they agreed so easily. It was so nice of them to do the investigation at the Bloody Hound Pub." Macchi continued. Lyserg opened the van door and Macchi hopped inside.

"True, but think about it. They only agreed because they feared us and we were the underlings! They would have had no chance against Yoh." Lyserg said. He closed the door and Faust started the car. "So I guess we'll now be heading back to Japan, right?" Lyserg ask Faust.

"Yeah. I'm glad you two called me. I don't know what that freak would have done to you two." Faust said. The car continued down the road to the airport. "What were you two doing when you got caught?" Faust asked them a few minutes down the road. They passed a sign seeing the airport was ten kilometers away.

"Nothing much. I got this book and-"Macchi started, but Faust interrupted.

"Really, which novel?!" Faust asked. Macchi pulled out the book.

"Um...101 Ways to Win A Guy's Heart from another Girl..." Macchi answered. Faust attitude quickly changed.

"Oh...that must be a...interesting book...can I see it real fast?" Faust asked. Macchi handed him the book. Faust slowed down the car to skim the pages. "This entries are quite...radical. Macchi, this isn't how you get someone to love you. Love is a bond between two people that are willing to struggle and help each other." Faust lectured Macchi. He handed the book back to her and picked up speed. "So who's the...oh it's Hao isn't it?" Faust said. Macchi blushed. The first time she had blushed in life, as far as she knew.

"How...how did you know?!" Macchi asked him.

"You just told me." Faust laughed. Macchi didn't see the humor in the matter, but Lyserg was laughing along as well. Faust's laugher died down and he picked up speed again. "Listen. If you really want Hao to love you, you need to tell him up front and build from there." Faust said. Macchi crossed her arms and pouted.

"What you know about love? You're even older than Hao!" Macchi insulted him. Faust sighed and shook his head.

"Well...I was married and I've gone the whole nine yards. Take it from me, you don't need the book." Faust said. Macchi sighed and put the book in her bag.

"Alright...I listen your advice." Macchi replied pouting. Faust smiled again.

"Trust me you'll thank me later...what was the name of the book again?" Faust asked.

"101 Ways to Win A Guy's Heart from another Girl." Macchi said again. Faust got a blank stare in his eyes.

"Use the book!" Faust said. Macchi was confused completely.

"Ok you told not to use the book, but now you said I should?" Macchi asked.

"Macchi, please tell me know Tamao and Hao are planning to get married!" Faust said. Faust started to slow down as he approaches the exit to the airport.

"Yeah, I know, that's why I need the book." Macchi said back. Faust sighed again.

"Please Macchi, don't break them up. It's a terrible crime to break someone's heart. Tamao has grown very attached to him. She has already suffered enough." Faust said. Faust was only trying to protect Tamao. He knew what the girl was like before Hao and her meet. She was a lost girl that was shunned by everyone.

"Last time I checked, there wasn't a law that prohibited breaking couples apart." Macchi said. Lyserg remained silent the whole time. He didn't want to get involved with the politics of love, his own were bad enough.

"Macchi, love is one of those things you don't want to break. When you lose someone you love, you literally lose a part of yourself." Faust said, this time from the heart. "You don't want to know how that feels, Macchi." Faust finished. Faust pulled up to the rent-a-car center and turned off the van. The zombie servant was awaiting them. When Faust opened the trunk, the servant began to unload the trunk. Faust left the keys in the car and left for the hanger. Macchi and Lyserg both followed him. The plane was all ready and the other zombie started to load the cargo haul with the luggage. Faust lowered the walkway and looked at Macchi. "Macchi, you really need to think about what you're doing. Maybe you should put yourself in Tamao's shoes." Those were the final words Faust said to Macchi while in England. Macchi never gave much though about what he said, but Lyserg sure did. Macchi opened the book again and started to read more. Lyserg sat across from her. His gaze looked down at the floor.

"Macchi, maybe we should rethink all this. I don't anyone to suffer from our ambitions." Lyserg said in remorse. Macchi paid no attention to his plea. She continued to read the book.

"You think I need to work out? It says right her a guy always falls for the better fit girl." Macchi asked. Lyserg was disgusted.

"Macchi! You're not even listening to me! I don't want to be a part of this game!" Lyserg yelled at her.

"So you're telling me, you hate Tamao?" Macchi said right back. Her nose was still in the book. Lyserg blushed that bright scarlet red once again.

"Of...of course not! I can't...I can't stop thinking about her, but I-"

"See the more reason why you should help me." Macchi interrupted. The plane began to start up and move down the runway. "You love Tamao, I love Hao, we break them and both get the one we want. It's a win-win situation." Macchi continued. Lyserg laid back in seat and looked up. It was about nine P.M. A lot had happened when Macchi and him were in that van that abducted them. The plane picked up speed as it ascended in the air. "Ok, but just as long we don't hurt either of their hearts." Lyserg answered. The plane continued to ascend in the air. Both sat there a long time thinking of what to do next.


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, I finally posted this. I've been a bit...busy, but fear not! This chapter is fairly short will pick from Chapter 2 and lead into Chapter 4, so this more like a transition. Hence, why Chapter 2 was rushed, not to mention I hated London, not much my characters wanted to do there, besides get abducted and get a very important book that will play in later in this story. So...why did it take me 2 weeks just to edit 4 pages (that's like 2 pages a week and 2/7 of a page a day)? Well...I was fairly busy with the wonders of life, but here is...

Chapter 3

Macchi quickly ran off the plane and hugged the ground. "Oh, thank god! LAND!" Macchi yelled. Lyserg slowly walked out with Faust behind him. The zombie servants started to unload the cargo. Faust took the last step off and the stairway away pulled from the plane. It then started up and parked in the hanger. Faust looked back at Macchi, the girl he left to think about her evil plans.

"So, Macchi, have you though about what I said?" Faust asked her. Macchi turned around and looked up to the German giant.

"Yeah, I thought about it." Macchi said, almost a pout. Faust nodded and left her again. He walked to the car and opened the driver door. Lyserg helped Macchi get help and they both walked to the van.

"So you really thought about your plans?" Lyserg asked her. Lyserg had forgotten all that happened on the plane, which he was thankful for. It was literally a non-stop trip to hell. Macchi had sometimes read a few tips out loud and made Lyserg shiver. He often played cards with Faust just to get her off his mind and all the bad visuals he was getting. Macchi smiled and opened up the book once again.

"I found the perfect solution, read this." Macchi said. Lyserg took the book and read the entry.

Way #26

Sometimes the guy you want is just used to the same old you. Break a leg and try a different extreme approach. The best way is changed your outfit. Making it extreme will definitely have your man notice you...

Lyserg looked at Macchi blankly. "Change your outfit...in what way?" Lyserg asked her. Macchi flipped to the next page where it showed some clothing examples. Lyserg looked at the outfits and gasped. "You're going to wear one of those?!" Lyserg yelled. Macchi smiled and grabbed the book from Lyserg.

"Yep. That will definitely get Hao's attention." Macchi said.

"Yeah it will! Macchi, those clothes...they make you like...like a slut!" Lyserg yelled back. Macchi reopened the book and looked at the outfits again. Lyserg pointed to one particular outfit, which even I will not describe.

"Oh...good point. That shirt is too tight anyway. You have be a stick to wear those things. Do you know what size shirt Tamao wears?" Macchi asked. Lyserg opened the door to the van with Faust patiently waiting,

'Geez took those two long enough.' Faust thought. He turned the key and the engine started up.

"You two are about the same size, but if she found out...I wasn't a part of this." Lyserg said with Faust completely lose in the conversation. Faust put the car into gear and drove off to the mansion.

The car began to slow down as it approached the mansion. Faust looked ahead to see if any of the other vans were there. Hao's team had return, but Ryu's and Jun's teams still weren't there. Faust pulled up right next to the red van and shut off the engine. Faust pulled the keys out and unlocked the doors. Lyserg and Macchi exited different ways and followed Faust's lead. They went through the main, towering gateway and into the mansion itself. Faust walked through the hallways to the briefing room. Macchi followed him with the book in hand and Lyserg was trailing behind even more to see if Tamao was in another room. Faust entered the briefing room were Yoh was waiting for them. Yoh had on a simple red shirt and was sitting down in on the floor with a table and tea all ready.

"Tea's still hot if you want some." Yoh said. Faust and Lyserg knelt down then took a seat. Macchi just sat down. Faust poured himself some tea and drank it. "So..." Yoh said. "You succeeded. Good work. I was afraid the Bloody Forsaken be stronger than it was." Yoh said.

"Yes, they were pretty cocky saying how they would overthrown you." Faust said. Lyserg poured out some tea and took a slip. It was very strong to him and he quickly put it back down. Macchi just looked at her small glass and noticed how Lyserg quickly put down his tea, and besides she hated tea.

"Well, for now you are free. Anna has strictly instructed that no one comes to the baby, Hao's team is also here, and...Jun's team will be here in...three or four days. You're dismissed." Yoh said. Faust's team got up and bowed, Macchi followed after Lyserg.

"So how you know Jun's team will be here in three days?" Macchi asked Yoh. Yoh sat there and pondered it a bit. He got a surprised look and face and looked back at Macchi.

"The Great Spirit told me...and that book..." Yoh said. Macchi handed him the book. Yoh looked at carefully at the book and handed it back to Macchi. "Nothing...I thought it was something else." Yoh said. Macchi exited the room trailing far behind from Lyserg. Yoh closed his eyes a second time to call the Great Spirit. He sat there with is eyes closed, deep in thought, wondering what that book really was. When he opened his eyes he saw the truth.

"That book is going to cause a lot of trouble..." Yoh said. It was the only revealed to him. Lyserg had led Macchi to her room and didn't hear his warning, nor would anyone else.

"I advise you keep to know where your room is in this mansion. I forgot where mine was at least three times already." Lyserg told Macchi. They took a sharp left turn where Lyserg stopped and turned to the right. "Well. This should be it." Lyserg said. He backed up to let Macchi open the door. Macchi's hand slowly opened the door. Macchi gasped when she saw her room.

"Oh my god! It's so organized." Macchi gasped. The bed was made and occupied the upper left corner of the room with a small table with a reading lamp on it. The floor was the traditionally tatami had her suitcases were neatly stacked right beside her bed. There was a small seat at the right end of the room with a large bamboo plant. On the door end there hung a wakazashi in its sheath. The rest of room was empty space and left for Macchi to do for what she pleased. Macchi turned around to Lyserg.

"Can you please find Hao really fast. Meet me outside at that one pond." Macchi whispered into his ear. Lyserg blushed slightly and nodded. Lyserg continued down the hallway to look for Hao. Macchi shut the door and went to decide on the right outfit to wear.

Hao was out by the pond when Lyserg found him. Tamao wasn't there, which was a good thing for Macchi and a better one for Lyserg. He couldn't even imagine how much he be shaking if she was around. Macchi slowly creaked the door and exited out and looked for Lyserg. Lyserg was leaning against a tree waiting for her.

"So how do I look?" Macchi asked Lyserg. Lyserg gaped at what she was wearing. She told a green sweatshirt and cut the bottom half off exposing her navel, it really shouldn't have even been considered a sweatshirt in the first place. She had tiny jean shorts that barely passed for a strip of fabric, much less a headband. She had a pearl earring on her left ear and around her neck was a small chain. Macchi waved her hand in front of his face. "Hello? Anyone home?" Macchi said into his ear. Lyserg snapped out of his daydream and looked at Macchi.

"Well...um...you look...pretty good..." Lyserg stuttered.

"Yeah, the book said 'The more skin, the better.'" Macchi said back, grinning. Lyserg just nodded in agreement to what she said. She smiled and left to go for Hao. Lyserg retreated back into the bushes to get some tips on how to talk to girls.

'Geez! Is that book suppose to work on Hao or me?" Lyserg though as he looked at Macchi again. Hao looked up and saw the new Macchi. He sighed at looked back down at the water, no doubt disgusted at what he saw.

"So what you think? You like it?" Macchi asked him. 'Yes...yes...yes...' Lyserg repeated in his mind, but he quickly erased those sinful thoughts.

"No. It's hideous and you like a hooker." Hao commented. Macchi frowned and she sat down next to Hao.

"So...how's the relationship between you and Tamao?" Macchi asked him. Hao leaned back and stared at the sky.

"We're planning to get married soon." Hao said. Macchi smiled, but inside she was saddened by the news, more like angry.

"Hey, Hao...you wanna...go somewhere so we can...I don't know, catch up on old times?" Macchi asked him. Hao sighed as he when back to an upright position.

"Sorry, tonight me and Tamao are going to the movies and my week is pretty much filled up. Maybe some other time, ok?" Hao proposed.

"Ok..." Macchi whimpered. Hao looked into her eyes for a slight second.

"You know...I think we'll go Tuesday, if that's ok with you." Hao proposed once again. Macchi hugged Hao and became peppy again.

"Oh, thank you Hao-kun." Macchi said. She let go of Hao rather quickly though. Hao got up and left Macchi. Macchi sat there until Hao was completely out of view. She gave a thumbs up signal to Lyserg. Lyserg emerged from the bushes and walked over to Macchi.

"I got the date!" Macchi said in joy. Lyserg looked the other way.

"Well...it's more of a catch-up." Lyserg said.

"So...at least he noticed me." Macchi said back. She got up and walked over to a tree. "Look, what that matters is I got the date." Macchi said. Hao came back panting.

"Sorry Macchi, Tuesday is when Tamao is going to select the wedding dress. I'm afraid we'll have to schedule another time." Hao said. Macchi just smiled and looked at Hao.

"Oh...that's ok, I kind of was busy anyways." Macchi replied. Hao nodded and left. Once Hao was out sight completely, Macchi slammed her fist into the tree. Pain throbbed through the hand and up to her wrist. "Damn it! I was so close! Clothes don't work!" Macchi cried. Lyserg got slightly closer to Macchi.

"Macchi, I don't think the book works. Didn't you notice he opened up Tuesday you came really depressed. He has sympathy for you, I would consider that a start." Lyserg said trying to comfort Macchi.

"I need to burn down that wedding dress store tonight..." Macchi grimly spoke, an insidious ploy was work no doubt.

"MACCHI! Didn't you even hear a word I just said?!" Lyserg yelled at her. Macchi looked at Lyserg and shook her head. Lyserg sighed and repeated what he said early.

"I said, he opened up Tuesday to you when you became depressed. He has sympathy for you, he doesn't want to see you in pain." Lyserg explained once again. Like a light bulb appeared just above Macchi's head, she reopened the book. She flipped through the pages looking for a certain entry. She stopped half way in the book and showed the entry to Lyserg.

Way # 57

Guys dislike weak girls. They are too easy to push around and easy to control. You need to buff up a bit and show just how strong you are. Use lightweights for the best results.

Lyserg handed the book back to Macchi.

"I can't believe you paid for this book." Lyserg complained.

"Don't you see?! I need to increase my power level! I was...the weakest in my group and I followed everyone else. If Hao saw I was stronger than Tamao, he would definitely fall for me!" Macchi explained. Lyserg sighed at all the flaws in her plan.

"Macchi, if he does notice you it will be on much you've improved, not if you're stronger than Tamao." Lyserg said in disgrace.

"Ok, you'll be my guinea pig starting tomorrow. Better bring Morphine along as well with that small cute little green shirt you made for her. She'll be your little cheerleader as I take on your X-law angel!" Macchi said. She tried to laugh sinisterly, but her throat dried up very quickly and she coughed for a few seconds. Lyserg was frightened by her proposition.

"You want to fight Zeruel? Do you know how strong he is?!" Lyserg warned her.

"Of course I know! If I fight a stronger opponent I use more of spirit muscles and I'll get stronger." Macchi joyfully said. Lyserg sighed once again.

"Ok, but if completely exhausted you can't blame me." Lyserg warned her.

"Ok, ok. I'll be careful. God, I never knew dressing like this was so uncomfortable!" Macchi complained. She became to walk back to mansion trying to pull down the sweater as far as she could. She stopped five feet away from Lyserg. "Can you show were my room is again?" Macchi asked. Lyserg sighed and led the way once again.


	4. Chapter 4

So yeah...finally I'm posting Chapter 4 ! Man...I've been so busy...but that's life. Now, without further adieu...

Chapter 4

Macchi still lay in her bed asleep. The door slowly opened and caught Macchi's attention. Hao came into the room and knelt down to Macchi. Macchi was blushing and her heartbeat became fainter and fainter.

"Macchi, you are so beautiful, it makes want to kiss you." Hao said. He slowly pushed Macchi down on her bed and his lips came closer and closer to her's.

"MACCHI! Wake up!" An outside voice said. Hao disappeared into the wind with Lyserg shaking her frantically. "Come on already! You said you wanted to train so let's go!" Lyserg yelled in the softest voice he could. Macchi slapped Lyserg across the face and went back to sleep. Lyserg knelt down to her ear and pulled out a whistle. He blew as hard as he could into it while keeping it at a responsible sound level, quite impossible if you asked me. The ring rang throughout the room waking Macchi up.

"OK! I'm up! Sheesh. What time is it?" Macchi asked.

"Five A.M. Come on, you don't get stronger just be sitting there!" Lyserg complained.

"Why so early? I was having the loveliest dream with Hao having those bed room eyes and he about going to kiss me..." Macchi blabbered on before Lyserg interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah, that's great. Will you hurry up!?" Lyserg said back to her. Macchi crawled over to her suitcase and opened it. She looked over at Lyserg with fiery demon eyes.

"Are you going to watch me dress?" She asked him. Lyserg yelped and quickly left the room. Macchi thought about the one dream again. Every emotion, every feeling, even Hao's hands had felt real to her. She was desperate for love and the side effects were kicking in. Macchi opened the door slowly and barely walked out of her room.

"Come on! Is this how you get ready for a battle?!" Lyserg insulted her. He was wearing a gray hoody with gray sweatpants and a gray hat they had the word 'pain' in bold red letters.

"I need my beauty sleep..." Macchi dozed off. Lyserg blew the whistle into her ear again.

"Come on princess! You may have all day, but I sure don't!" Lyserg instructed like a drill sergeant.

"Sure...whatever..." Macchi said sleepy and began to walk outside.

Macchi collapsed when she reached the outside of the mansion, where Zeruel was waiting and Morphine in the green shirt with green pom-poms, just as Macchi requested. She thought Lyserg was going overboard, the whole pom-pom was just a joke. Lyserg walked right passed her and dropped Jack right of her head. Macchi got up with poor Jack in her hands. Lyserg stopped right in front of Zeruel and turned around.

"Let's check your energy level." Lyserg said, his tone seemed more relaxed and not as stern. He pulled out a small device that looked like a cell phone. Lyserg had made this after the shaman fight to see how much he had improved. He pointed the sensor at Macchi and the device computed her energy level.

_Current: 1500_

_Max: 7000_

Lyserg sighed after he looked at the results.

"Ok Macchi, I'm sorry I did all the drill sergeant stuff, but it was the only way you would have listened to me." Lyserg apologized.

"So does that mean I can sleep?" Macchi asked him sheepishly. As soon as Lyserg nodded, Macchi was on the ground dead asleep. Lyserg looked into his backpack to see what she could eat once she woke up. He looked back at Matilda, the girl that slept before him. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. Lyserg thought this time it would be best not to wake her.

Their Macchi was again in her bed with Hao hovering right over her. Hao slowly glissaded his finger through her hair and moved it aside. He slowly ascended to her lips. Macchi could feel her heart better faster and becoming even fainter. Her eyes closed right seconds before her first true kiss. Their lips then met. Macchi was, however, very disappointed. She always viewed the kiss as this exhilarating feeling that you go for a second five-second frenchy. It her to felt wet and very condensed at first. Slowly this sudden a burning fire soared throughout her body. She indulged herself even more by wrapping her arms around the love she loved. Hao and Macchi had to breathe at some time and the parting was a sorrowful thing. Macchi opened her eyes to see the beloved face of Hao. Hao's hand slowly moved down her side, but he was interrupted by another kiss from Macchi.

'So this is what it's like to be in love.' Macchi thought to herself. The tables had turned with Hao now on the ground. Macchi parted just like before. She looked deep into Hao's eyes.

"Hao...do you love me?" Macchi asked him. Macchi was sitting upright now and Hao began to get as up well.

"Of course I do. You know I'd do anything to make you happy." Hao replied.

"Even breaking your love with Tamao?" Macchi then asked. She prepared herself for the worst, fearing Hao would saw no.

"Even that." Hao replied and he kissed Macchi again. Macchi was shocked as she was happy and had succumbed to Hao. That last parting was the worse because after it was over, Hao was gone again. Macchi collapsed into her bed once.

'No...I don't want to wake up! I want to stay here!' Macchi screamed in her mind, but Macchi thought the importance of this dream. It didn't take her long to realize this was how happy she would be in the real world, and that dream never ended.

The sun glared on Macchi's face. She curled up once again as she woke up. She wasn't sleepy any more. The dream had motivated her to achieve her goal. She found herself on a blanket, probably laid out by Lyserg. She wondered why Lyserg did that for her. He didn't need to make out a bed for her, she was just find on the ground. She set it aside, knowing it had little importance. Lyserg was a few feet away from reading a book. She got and peeked over Lyserg's shoulder.

Way 76

Do you fear talking to the one you want? Do stutter uncontrollably? You to need to vision that person as someone to can freely talk to. Only then will you be able to talk to your man.

"Lyserg...why are you reading my book?" Macchi asked grimly. Lyserg slowly turned his head to the one person he didn't want to see.

"Umm...oh nothing...just reading it!" Lyserg stuttered. Macchi grabbed the book from him and read his entry again.

"Is this for Tamao or something?" She questioned. Lyserg nodded and gulped. "Oh ok. For a second there I thought you were gay." Macchi said. Lyserg steamed when he heard this.

"Me?! Gay?! How you can me that when you know I love Tamao!" Lyserg yelled at her. He settled down after his little temper tantrum. "So do you have the one dream again?" Lyserg asked her. Macchi was surprised he even mentioned the dream, but she remembered she mentioned it early back in her room. But why would he care? Why should he have cared? It's not like it was any of his business or of his concern.

"Yeah, I did. You don't how desperate I am now." Macchi said. She placed her hand over her heart or more where we think it's supposed to be. "I ache from it. I don't how long I'll be able to control this feeling before I overflow with emotion." Macchi whispered. Lyserg looked at her in surprise. The sudden change in emotions shocked him. He hadn't seen Macchi like this before. She used to be very radical around him and now she was like this, this emotional human-like girl instead of her fiery demon side. "Lyserg...I don't how I'll react in front of him. I'm afraid...I'm afraid I'll overflow." Macchi also repeated herself.

"What do mean by 'overflow'?" Lyserg asked her. He quoted the overflow part. Macchi looked at the ground in sheer horror.

"I don't know. All I know is that...I'm going to totally submit myself to him." Macchi vaguely answered. Lyserg quoted to himself he have to investigate this. "Ok enough about...So when going to start!?" Macchi changed personalities.

"Well, don't you want eat something? It's like nine o'clock." Lyserg asked her.

"I don't have time to eat! Come on already let's train!" Macchi said excited. She picked up Lyserg and threw him toward Zeruel. The angel was still waiting there patiently for the battle to start. Lyserg read her energy levels once again.

_Current: 6500_

_Max: 7000_

'This seems suitable.' Lyserg thought. "Ok Macchi, oversoul your ghost and your going to break my shield, which is Zeruel." Lyserg instructed her.

"Oh that's going to be so easy!" Macchi said. She put Jack down on the ground and placed her hand on the head. "Oversoul!" She yelled. Blue waves emitted from her body and traveled into Jack. Lyserg was a tad shocked that her energy was now blue. He remembered distinctly that it was orange, but he put the thought aside knowing it was of no importance. Jack slowly came to life with the more energy it received. It became independent from her once it had the energy. It lifted its sliver Magnum pistol waiting for her signal. Macchi pointed at the angel. "Ok Jack. Fire away." Macchi commanded it. A blue glow emitted you're the pistol and Jack pulled the trigger. The blue bullet soared right to the angel. Zeruel lifted his arm just before the bullet hit its face. The bullet made contact and exploded. "All right! Direct hit!" Macchi yelled. The smoke cleared only to reveal an unscratched arm. Her hopes quickly dropped.

"You will not be able to harm Zeruel unless you have a power level of at least 10000." Lyserg explained. Macchi gaped.

"10000?! What's my level right now?" She asked him. Lyserg looked down at the cell phone.

"6500." He said. Macchi gaped. "You'll need to pick it up a notch if you want to break the shield. Are you sure you wouldn't go against Morphine?" Lyserg asked her.

"Heck no! I said I was going to beat your angel so that's what I'll do!" Macchi yelled back. She held out her arm and sent more power to her partner. Lyserg watched in complete boredom. "Fire away!" She commanded Jack. The bullet soared at Zeruel and hit him, but made no scar. "Fire again!" Macchi said in desperation. The bullets continued to fly but made no mark. Lyserg watched his cell phone and saw her power going down with every shot. Macchi collapsed on the ground after her fiftieth shot. She could barely hold her body up. Lyserg walked over to her. She threw herself on the ground hoping to get some power back. He looked at her in disgrace.

"What am I going wrong? I put everything I had into those rounds." Macchi complained.

"You don't have the right motivation or you haven't unleashed your breaking point. Either way, I'm pretty tired of your worthless attempts. Either you damage Zeruel now or I'll switching to Morphine, and in your current state it be pathetic to verse her." Lyserg scolded her.

"Switch!? You can't do that!" Macchi yelled at Lyserg. Lyserg turned around and held up one finger.

"You have one shot left." Lyserg said. He turned around and walked behind Zeruel. Macchi began to cry silently.

'Why?! Why am I so weak...I might as well give up. There's no point for me to do this.' Macchi said in her mind. Then Hao appeared in her mind. He held out his hand. Macchi grasped it pulled herself up, both in her mind and the real world. Hao was then gone, into the winds as usual. 'I see. I have to do this. For Hao's sake. He might really not care about this...but I do!' Macchi said to herself. She clenched her fists, squeezing what little energy she had left in them. She held out her hand to Jack. She had to use her other hand to support the arm. Lyserg looked down at his cell phone.

_Current: 500..._

_Max: 7000_

'Sorry Macchi, this will be for your own good.' Lyserg said in shame silently. The blue energy began to build up in her arm. The aura barely surrounded her arm. 'This is going to fast and painless to Zeruel...as usual.' Lyserg continued to think. Macchi gripped her arm. The aura was swirling faster and faster around her arm. The slight aura then erupted into a huge red flame that engulfed her arm. Lyserg was in shock. He looked at cell phone. It was beeping indicating an increase in power. 'This can't be! The sensor says her power is 15000! How is that possible?! Her power increased more than ten times from her past state! What's going on?!' Lyserg screamed in his mind. Macchi was on her knees trying to sustain this power and continued to build it up. 'This is insane! Her power! What going to happen to Zeruel!? I don't think he had had a blast this powerful in a long time.' Lyserg thought. Macchi released the energy blast into Jack. The doll jumped into the air as the new power came into it. The green aura engulfed its body and Macchi's body as well. The doll looked at Zeruel with its emerald eyes. It aimed his shot and fired. The bullet wasn't like the previous. It was at least two feet in diameter and it continued out of the gun as it approached Zeruel, which was twenty-five feet away. Lyserg shielded himself behind his angel. The blast hit Zeruel directly on his arm and continued. Zeruel held his ground, almost slipping a few times. The blast stopped after a five seconds. It was at least to Lyserg more like a five hours. The black smoke cleared showing a huge two-foot gash in Zeruel's arm. Macchi smiled as she saw that gash and collapsed on the ground. Lyserg didn't bother looking at his cell phone. He ran over to Macchi who was still on the ground.

"THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!" Lyserg said to Macchi. Macchi stilled remained motionless. Lyserg's sudden joy quickly turned to distress. "Macchi?" He said again. He turned Macchi over on her back and put his hand over mouth. There was no air coming out. He quickly looked down his cell phone.

_Current: 8...7...6_

_Max: Computing_

Lyserg quickly looked back at Macchi. She wasn't breathing. He put two fingers on her throat. There was a faint heartbeat. 'Oh my god!' Lyserg screamed in his mind. He panicked in what to do next. He could call for help, but that take to long. He could save her himself, but he was very rusty in the area of life saving. He could hope that she come through, but what would that do?

"Why don't you give mouth-to-mouth?!" Morphine asked. Lyserg looked at Macchi. He terrified at the though of giving her rescue breathing, but it was the only way to save her. He tilted her head and exhaled into her mouth. Nothing. He positioned her head and breathed into it again. Still nothing. He breathed into her mouth again. Still nothing. 'Please don't die on me Macchi! You...you can't leave this world!' He breathed into her mouth again. Macchi slowly opened her eyes to see Lyserg kissing her. She couldn't move but she did have the idea of slapping him later. Lyserg was terrified. He had failed in saving her, failed in saving a friend. It was now his second time. He stood there motionless and gave up hope. Tears began to accumulate around his eyes and slid down his face. "Macchi...I'm so sorry...I couldn't save you." Lyserg cried. He slammed his fist into the ground. Macchi breathed quietly to watch the drama. "I loved you and yet...I'm so pathetic. I should have never had pushed you." Lyserg was crying in full bloom tears now. Macchi felt her heart beat faster again. Lyserg seemed more concerned about Tamao when he was around her, but could this be the truth? That Lyserg was really concerned for her?

"What the hell are you talking about?" A weak voice said. Lyserg quit crying and looked down at Macchi. She was alive and been that way for the last thirty seconds. "You sick bastard. You...kissed me." Macchi yelled at him weakly. Lyserg hugged, more like squeezed, Macchi and cried into her shoulder. "Lyserg get off me. I can hardly breath." Macchi said, coughing. Lyserg loosened his grip.

"I though I lost you. I was so scared." Lyserg continued to cry. Macchi began to think what Lyserg said over her, about him loving her. She decided it be best to talk to him at a different time.

"Hey...what was my power level?" Macchi asked him. Lyserg tried to pull himself together and wiped away his tears.

"15000." Lyserg said. He quickly looked back down at his cell phone.

_Current: 200_

_Max: 12500_

'So she went over her limit...no wonder she nearly died.' Lyserg thought. Lyserg also knew Macchi had well exceed a power level of 15000, but there was no point in giving her too much pride.

"Awesome...I showed you, didn't I. I can hardly lift myself up. Can you...carry me back?" Macchi asked him. Lyserg smiled as he heard the request.

"Sure. Why not." He said. He tried to pick up Macchi and brought her up to where Lyserg could walk. He wished he weight-trained like Ren had told him to. Her body was heavier than it seemed. She was all dead weight just lying there in his arms. Her arms dangled down as he carried her back to room. Zeruel and Morphine stayed behind.

"So...is that...love?" Zeruel asked. He didn't ask anyone in particular. He seemed to ask himself the question.

"Yes...it's so beautiful, those two. I wonder if know how strong the bond between really is." Morphine said in awe. Zeruel looked at the petite fairy.

"So they are more than allies?" Zeruel asked the fairy. Morphine nodded and cried.

"They might not know it...but they are lovers, true lovers." Morphine said placing her hands on her heart, if she had one. Her eyes then widened and she turned around to Zeruel. "Hey! Since when could you talk?!" Morphine yelled at the giant. Zeruel just looked down at the fairy and stared at her, wondering what the curious little creature was talking about. "Maybe it was my imagination." Morphine said to herself. Morhpine felt like she was getting too old for this shaman stuff anyway.

Lyserg put Macchi in the confines of her bed. Lyserg smiled down at her just in like in the dream with Hao. Lyserg has on the ground kneeling.

"You need anything?" He asked Macchi. Macchi felt her heart race.

"No...if you could, could you bring me lunch. I don't think I'll be able to get out of this bed for a while." She requested. Lyserg nodded and got up. "Oh could..." Macchi started but she left unfinished.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Ok." Lyserg said. He walked toward the door. Macchi had a doubt in her mind about him. She wondered if she really falling in love with Hao or him. Her heart continued to beat harder and faster.

"Lyserg." Macchi said with all her might. Lyserg turned in around with a questioning look on his face. "I know this is going to seem rash, but..." Macchi said, trying to prop her body on her arms, hoping they would hold. Lyserg walked over to her and knelt down beside her.

"Sure. You can tell me, I promise I'll won't tell anyone else." He told her.

"I want you to kiss me." Macchi requested. Lyserg jumped back.

"What?!" Lyserg yelped.

"Please. Just one kiss." Macchi requested. Lyserg looked at the ground in despair. "It will make me feel better." She persuaded.

"Ok...but I've never kissed a girl before." Lyserg warned her.

"So, I've never kissed a guy before." Macchi replied back, she meant that in reality, so she lied in some sense. Lyserg got closer to Macchi. She tried to prop herself up a bit to make this easier for Lyserg. They both closed their eyes as they awaited the inevitable kiss. It seemed like eternity before they locked lips, much less to be within five inches of each other. At first Macchi was disappointed. It was just a wet kiss with no emotions. It confirmed her thought about Lyserg. She wasn't in love with him, and even if she was, she didn't feel anything. Then sudden little feeling moved from her lips to heart. It wasn't like Hao's kiss, which was like a wildfire, but a gentle, soft feeling, a feeling of trust. Macchi moved herself closer to Lyserg till they were almost upright. Macchi wished she could lift her arms, but Lyserg did it for her. His hands brought her body and her heart to closer to him. They finally parted, but it wasn't like an absence. That gentle lightness was still there. Macchi opened her eyes first and then Lyserg a minute later. Her eyes were half-shut, yet she didn't know it.

"Thank you. I'm sorry if that...I don't know, offended you in anyway." Macchi said.

"Ok...well if you need anything just call me with this." Lyserg said. He put down a small pager. "Just hit the red button, it cause my cell to buzz and I'll know if you need me." Lyserg explained further. Lyserg got up and headed for the door. "Well, seeya later." Lyserg said.

"Goodbye." Macchi said. Lyserg left the room. Macchi slummed into her bed and cried. Both kisses had confused her. Which one was true love? What could you call love? You think you love someone, yet, the most unlikely person then comes and everything changes. Hao's kiss and caused a wildfire throughout her body, but left her in absence, in need of more like a drug. Lyserg's kiss wasn't as fierce, it was softer and kinder and it continued to stay with her. That gentle softness continued to burden her heart. Macchi no longer knew what was real and what was fiction. Both kisses had given her a choice and the choice between them was confusing enough. Macchi began to rethink her plans. She could still pursue Hao and act like Lyserg was a friend, but Lyserg wasn't just a friend, he was something more. Macchi didn't know what to call Lyserg now. She didn't know if she could call him a best friend or her true love.

'I wonder if I could marry both Lyserg and Hao. I meant, those guys in the Middle East do it with women. One guy will have like three girls. Couldn't that go for girls too? Well...then that mean I would have to two kids regardless, one for Hao and for Lyserg, and just wouldn't work out. Maybe Hao could marry both Tamao and I, or Lyserg could go that too, but Lyserg would never agree to that and that doesn't solve my problem with Tamao. Tamao...what is my deal with that girl anyway? I knew we fought each other once. Yeah, we did fight, but didn't something else happen? I swore someone else came, or...was I chasing someone and talked to Mari or Kanna. Ugh! Why can't I remember! Maybe I'm just jealous of her. I mean she has the man I want and she even has Lyserg breathing down her neck. Heck...why do I have like no memories of her? Maybe I should just sleep this off!' And is exactly what she did. Her body limbed and motionless. She was in a deep sleep, a sleep even deeper than what we may experienced. Her body had almost shut down, just to recover from both the physical and mental stress.

At noon, Lyserg came back to check on her. She was still were he left he thirty minutes ago. He figured she still be asleep, so he didn't bring anything, in terms of food. He walked into the room and stopped just above her. He knelt down to see if she was really asleep, which she was. Lyserg sat there, staring at her. He didn't know he was staring at her. She looked so peaceful in her sleep, much unlike her other side when she was awake. Maybe this was the side of Macchi few saw, the side he called, 'Matilda'. Lyserg's hand twitched. He was curious to see how asleep she was. His hand slowly reached out to her head. His finger glissaded down her cheek and to her lips. Her skin was velvety soft. His finger continued to move, downward, but he retracted it. How could he do such a sinful act?! Lyserg was against a few things in life. Cursing, his pet peeve, nudity or near-nudity, he considered it morally wrong, taking advantage of people, he just didn't like the feeling, and to think of any woman, no matter who it was, in a sexual way. He was very virtuous and should be appraised for his virtues. Most boys his age wouldn't have such values and totally disregard them, such as Horohoro, cursing when ever they wanted to, obsessive to boobs, porn, and such, and thought of ever woman in a sexual manner. Lyserg admitted he would get a sinful thought once in a while, but he would erase such thoughts.

He looked at Macchi, but in his mind she was 'Matilda', the side of Macchi that was calm and truly beautiful. He wondered what drew him to her. She was beautiful, no doubt. His finger glissaded through her hair, it was as soft as Hao felt it, but he put the strands back in place. Her nature was rash, she was a psychopath, and she just to be his enemy, but yet, he thought he loved her. Maybe it because of her flaws that he loved her, he didn't know. Lyserg never understood love, only being left with the Hollywood stereotypes. Lyserg shook his head, trying to regain a clear mind. Lyserg got up and left the room, hoping Macchi would awaken soon. Lyserg saw Tamao passing by. He froze, his body wouldn't respond, and thankfully Tamao didn't notice him there. Once away, Lyserg sighed. He wasn't ready for Tamao, not yet at least.

Tamao was just as fair as Macchi. She had more woman-like qualities Lyserg liked. She was calm in nature, she was quite caring, almost motherly to Horo, who she considered her 'Little Teen', and she was just Tamao. Shy, cute, and almost perfect. Lyserg erased the thought from his mind, setting it aside. He could think of the two some other time in the future. Lyserg looked down at the list of chores. He felt he should take Macchi's job; which was to cook dinner and he still had his job to do; which was to wash the dishes after dinner. Lyserg sighed and smiled afterwards. It seemed he be a double duty again tonight. He peeked back into Macchi's room and promised he back after dinner was over.


	5. Chapter 5

I so glad so many people have reviewed this fanfiction (so far 13ish), it's every more that my drawings (wow...thenmy drawings must really suck Oo!), but really, I'm glad so many people find itso captivating. Well...enough about me, on to...

Chapter 5

Darkness. It's all Macchi saw with her eyes closed. There were strange noises coming from the hallway. Doors slide in and out, footsteps trampled across the floor, pointless talking, and Tamao's voice. Macchi was in her own little world. That was until a glaring light hit her face. She threw her bed covers over her eyes. She moaned and tried to send the message she didn't want to wake up.

"Macchi? You awake?" A voice said. Macchi didn't know to whom it belonged to it was too early for her. "I have some food for you, if you want it that is." The voice said, a bit disappointed this time. Macchi threw the covers off to see who it was. Her vision was blurred, but she could make out green hair, Lyserg. She was still wearing her clothes from the training.

"Yeah...I'll...have it." Macchi said tired. She slummed back into her bed and saw the food in front of her. It didn't look like buttered toast or cereal or even pancakes. A sandwich with something in the middle and some fruit on the side. "What's this...breakfast?" Macchi asked him, she was still tired.

"Well...more on the lines of lunch to exact." Lyserg said. He still stood by the window. Macchi slowly picked up the sand and took a bit of it. "Hard to believe you've slept this long." Lyserg said, also to himself.

"What day is it?" Macchi asked. Her head was throbbing with pain.

"It's Tuesday, about noon." Lyserg explained. Macchi quickly flung out of her bed.

"Tuesday?! But...but today's the day...Tamao..." Macchi said erratic and stopped. "Her wedding dress..." Macchi finished a few seconds later. Lyserg nodded and talked toward Macchi and sat beside her bed.

"Yep. They left an hour ago. Tamao...she looked so happy. Macchi, have you ever thought, that what we're doing is wrong? I meant...you know I hate Hao for...you know." Lyserg said, his moods quickly changing. He pounded his fist into the ground quite girlish. Macchi was lost, completely.

"What he do? He take Tamao away from you?" Macchi asked. Lyserg was shocked.

"You...mean...you don't know." Lyserg said in horror.

"Were you part of X-laws, right? I thought you were..." Macchi continued to say. Lyserg was still speechless. He couldn't believe Macchi didn't know. Not to mention how much she fought them and how much he would curse at Hao for the death of his parents.

"What happen to you guys? I haven't seen anyone, but sliver hair girl." Macchi said. Lyserg looked at the ground, speechless and shocked.

"Don't you remember anything?" Lyserg said in a faint voice.

"I guess not...I only remember Kanna, and Mari and Tamao really. Everything seems like a blur." Macchi said. She wondered what Lyserg was so worked up about. "Is something wrong?" Macchi asked him. Lyserg stood up and walked back to the window again.

"I can't believe you don't remember anything." He started to say. He slammed the window still, the wood broke into two. "You don't remember how you and Hao killed off the X-laws?!" Lyserg screamed. He swung around and smashed the wall. "Nothing!" He screamed. He fell to the ground crying. Macchi got up and tried to approach. She reached out her hand, but Lyserg slapped it away. Macchi was shocked by his behavior. "Stay away from me!" He screamed at her. Macchi back away, afraid of what Lyserg would do next. "I'm sorry. I need to blow off some steam." Lyserg said hoarsely. He got up and stormed out her door. Macchi sat there paralyzed. She stood there for a minute to make sure he was gone.

Macchi opened the door and poked her head outside, no sign of anyone. She took a left and walked to the exit out back. She slowly opened door to see Lyserg have Ren pinned against the wall.

'I forgot Ren is now here. He must have came back like today, like Yoh said.' Macchi thought. Lyserg pushed Ren toward the wall tighter.

"I will not allow you to make fun of my parents!" Lyserg yelled into Ren's face. Ren took the punishment, he could take care of Lyserg another way.

"I said nothing you fool. You just slammed me into the wall. If you want to fight..." Ren said, but Lyserg let go and slammed Ren back into the wall.

"Don't you play smart with me! I'll kill you if you dare mention anymore about my parents!" Lyserg screamed into his face. His voice shook the air and birds flew away. Ren remained silent and waited. After a minute Lyserg let him go. Ren fell to the ground and Lyserg stormed off, pass the pond. Macchi slowly walked outside and to Ren. Ren sat there on the ground, mediating.

"Ok, what is going on?" Macchi asked. Ren put a single finger up. Ren's eyes opened revealing his piercing eyes. Macchi nearly jumped back. Something about those eyes set something off in her.

"You just as ditzy as Pilica aren't you?" Ren scolded Macchi. He settled down to further explain the situation. "Lyserg has a painful memory. He lost his parents when he was six. Usually he would have been fine, there were plenty of families willing to take him, but there was one snag." Ren explained. He stopped again, to think of what to say next. "Hao killed his parents, in cold blood. He vowed to kill Hao one day. Usually he be able to keep that those emotions in control." Ren said. Macchi sat there speechless. A faint memory returned. Something about Lyserg yelling at Hao, but no words came out.

"Wow...I never knew...I mean, he seems so calm." Macchi said. Ren began to look at Macchi closely.

"Hey...aren't you Marion? Of the Hanagumi?" Ren asked. Macchi laughed and shook her head.

"No, I'm Macchi. Marion had blonde hair and talked weird." Macchi explained. Ren sat back and continued to look at Macchi.

"How ironic, two enemies falling in love." Ren said. Macchi put her fist under his chin. Ren was use to this threat. He could deal with her later too.

"Me and him?! Are you nuts?! I only love Hao! Lyserg is just helping me." Macchi yelled at him. Ren smirked and closed his eyes again.

"Then why are you so worried about him?" Ren said. Macchi gasped and moved back, lowering his fist. Ren glared his eyes straight at her. "Obvious, you 'love' him if you are worried about him. Does Hao worry about you? He took his time on reviving you." Ren said in that sick evil voice. Macchi held against the wall again.

"Hao was busy! You can't expect him to do everything!" Macchi said in his face. She let go of him. "Now excuse me, I have to help a 'friend'." Macchi said. She ran off in the direction in of Lyserg. Ren smirked again as he got up.

"Well...she isn't the same, that's for sure." Ren said. He walked toward the entrance. "So Yoh, is this the girl you talked so much about?" Ren opened the door and closed it as fast. "All she is, is trouble."

"Lyserg." Macchi called out. No response at all. Macchi continued to walk deeper into the forest. "Lyserg!" Macchi called out louder, yet still no response. Something hit the water. Macchi ran to the noise. Again, something hit the water, but there more noises after it. She stopped at a huge lake in the middle of the forest. A spring brought water into the mansion-sized lake. Lyserg was at the other side Macchi was. He threw another stone across the lake. It skipped the water a few times before it sunk to the bottom. Macchi began to walk closer to him. Lyserg lifted his eyes for a moment to see her coming. His eyes were narrowed and not like his previous joyful ones. He threw another stone across the lake. It sunk to the bottom after three skips. Macchi was ten feet away from him and stopped. She didn't want to end up like Ren and this time there was no around to save her.

"Hey, is everything ok?" Macchi asked him. Lyserg ignored her at first and threw another stone. "Ren told me, about your parents." Macchi said trying to get him to talk. Lyserg threw another stone across the lake. "I know how you feel." Macchi continued.

"You have no idea how I feel!" Lyserg yelled. He threw the stone harder this time. It took only four skips to go across the lake. Macchi took a step closer hoping Lyserg wouldn't slam her into a tree or something. "Just leave me alone. I'll be fine." Lyserg said. Macchi only continued to move forward, slowly. "We'll start again tomorrow." Macchi was right behind him. He was only a bit taller than her. She jumped on the rock behind him.

'Man...should I really do this? He could attack me at any moment. But, Lyserg is my friend, and I promised I get Tamao for him. Ok, I really didn't promise him, but it seems like it. Do I love you? Not like that matters now.' Macchi's thoughts raced through her mind. She slowly and cautiously put her arms around Lyserg's shoulders. Macchi could feel his muscles tense up.

"Look, just sit down." Macchi asked him. Lyserg at first was going to disobey but Macchi tightened her hold on him. Lyserg released his tension and sat on the ground like Macchi ordered. Macchi followed him down, not letting go. She cupped her hands over his heart, feeling his heartbeat slowing down. Macchi positioned her head right of Lyserg's.

"Hey, I'm sorry about before...and anything I've done before." Macchi whispered. She squeezed harder. "You know, I lost my friends too." Macchi began to say. "We're like sisters, always looking out for each other, pulling pranks on each other, sharing stories, and stuff like that." Macchi explained. She forgot to mention what kind of pranks they used to pull. Some innocent, but others, Macchi found herself glued into her sleeping bag. Lyserg put his hand around Macchi's own hand. Macchi felt his hand and feared Lyserg would push her off. Lyserg gripped her right hand and held onto it.

"Thanks, Matilda..." Lyserg thanked her. Macchi was shocked at his response because had ever called her by her true full name. She smiled and loosened her grip around Lyserg.

"Hey, no problem. Listen, I'll take care of the next mission. All you have to do is go for Tamao at the right time." Macchi said. Lyserg nodded, a way to show he understood the plan so far. Macchi completely removed herself from Lyserg. Lyserg's hand held onto her hand at long as possible until it slipped away. "A little lesson from Kanna. The three S's." Macchi boasted. "First, Spy. Then Sabotage. Lastly, Seize." Macchi briefly explained. Lyserg was lost, Macchi could just tell it in how he looked at her. "I've took the...um...liberty in finding out about the enemy, a.k.a. Tamao. Tonight, I'm going to set up all the equipment and put the bombs in place." Macchi explained. Lyserg eyes widened.

"Bombs!?" Lyserg said shocked.

"Well...not real bombs." Macchi corrected herself. "More like the...water balloons." Macchi said smiling.

"Ok, just making sure on that part. So...am I the Seize?" Lyserg asked. Lyserg was still trying to figure out how Macchi was able to find out information on Tamao. Macchi smiled.

"Yep. You'll be the knight in shining armor and comfort Tamao. If I planed it all out...that should be about seven thirty in the morning." Macchi finished up. Lyserg nodded.

"Ok...hey you can go. I'll be fine, now. So...thanks." Lyserg said.

"Hey, no problem." Macchi said joyfully. She started to walk around the lake back to the exit. She reached it, but turned around and waved to Lyserg. He slowly waved back. Macchi jumped into the forest and went back to the mansion. Lyserg picked up another rock and threw it at the water.

"The knight in shining armor...the savior of the hopeless. So, will I save Tamao from Macchi's plan, or save Macchi herself when this whole things collapses." Lyserg said to himself. He picked up another rock and threw it at the water. "I hope neither."

Macchi entered her room and pulled out her suitcase. She flipped open the pad locks and revealed her bounty of weapons.

"Hmmm...so hard to choose. So many weapons, so little ways to cause mischief." Macchi said rather impishly. The first she picked up was a bottle of dye, then a bottle of a powerful liquid, and several other things, including a black book. She laid them all out of the floor, seeing how they would all fit into the plan. Lyserg creaked the door and step inside. When he looked down at her arsenal, he stared at her blankly. Macchi turned around about two minutes later. "Oh, hey Lyserg." Macchi cheerfully said. Lyserg continued to stare at the weapons shocked.

"Um...Macchi. About how severe is this prank going to be?" Lyserg asked as he looked down at the arsenal of weapons she had..

"What? This is nothing. I used to pull stuff like these all the time." Macchi said. Lyserg slowly moved back and left the room. "Look, don't worry about it. I'll won't be that hard on her." Macchi said as he left the door. Lyserg quickly walked away from the room with the demon inside. Lyserg turned the corner to see Ren at the other end, walking toward him. Lyserg slid behind the wall he just passed. Lyserg couldn't even imagine what Ren would do to him. Lyserg looked down the way he just came. The door to the outside was too far away and to go the straight would lead straight to a dead end. He was trapped. Ren slowly turned the corner to see the terrified Lyserg.

"I told I get you back." Ren said to him. Lyserg tried to make a break for it, but Ren caught his shirt collar and threw him against the wall.

"Please! I never meant any of those things, honest." Lyserg pleaded. Ren pushed Lyserg against the wall and held him there. His yellow tiger-eyes pierced his soul and paralyzed him. "Please, Ren. I'm really sorry. You know how I was back then." Lyserg pleaded again. Ren threw him to the ground this time. The pain raged through Lyserg's body and to make things better Ren put his foot on his chest to hold him down. Lyserg looked up in fear at Ren.

"You should be glad I'm in a 'good' mood today." Ren said. He picked up his foot and put it back on the ground. Lyserg slowly got up afraid Ren would pummel him down to the ground again. When Lyserg stood up he was taller than Ren. "So why do you hang around with 'her'?" Ren asked him. Lyserg never thought about it before in depth, or came up with a good reason. All he knew was Macchi was his friend and helping him out. "Please tell me you remember all she did. All the destruction she caused to you. And you still call her your friend!" Ren barked at Lyserg. The horrible memories entered his mind once again. The deaths of his friends and all the pain he went through. "Do you remember her face when she killed Meene? Was she the sweet girl she is now? I suggest you kill her." Ren proposed. Lyserg was shocked at Ren's answer.

"I...I can't kill her. She's my friend!" Lyserg yelled back. Ren shrugged and when back the way he came. "Ren, you're wrong about her! She very kind and at least..." Lyserg stopped on that last part. Macchi had been nice to him, but him and Hao alone. Ren grinned at Lyserg's short supply of reasons.

"See, she's still the killer from the past. You might as well as kill her yourself." Ren said. Lyserg erupted and grabbed Ren and pushed him into the wall. Ren was frightened at Lyserg's ferocious. His eyes weren't like they were before. They were vengeful, but strangely still humane and kind.

"I'll never kill her!" Lyserg shouted right into Ren's face. Ren smirked and pushed Lyserg aside with his foot. Ren walked away from Lyserg and continued to grin.

"Ok then. Just tell me when you want me to kill her for you. The sooner the better." Ren said before he was out of Lyserg's view. Lyserg continued to breathe heavily. He slammed his fist into the wall again, but his punch only sent pain into his fist. Tears slowly leaked out.

"Why am I so weak? Why can't I do anything right?" Lyserg said to himself. A arm then wrapped around him.

"That was pretty heroic. That's what you'll need that for Tamao." Macchi said. She let go and let Lyserg turn around. "I'm glad you stuck up for me." Macchi said cheerfully. Lyserg blushed and looked the other way.

"Oh, that was nothing, really." Lyserg said still blushing.

"Yeah, whatever. Can you please help me out here. I just remember to put the 'special liquid' into the oil bottle required two people." Macchi asked.

"Sure. I guess." Lyserg blindly agreed. Macchi took his hand and lead him back to her room. She held an blank green bottle. Lyserg picked up the lotion bottle without evening told. Macchi slowly poured the liquid into the bottle. It was colorless and odorless. "So, what is this stuff?" Lyserg asked.

"If one drops gets on you, it will burn for a hour." Macchi said terse and quick. The last of the liquid went into the oil bottle. "Ok thanks. I'll be fine now." Macchi said. Lyserg put the bottle down and sealed the lid and stood at the door, his hand almost ready to open the door, but he just stood there. Macchi continued to put everything into place as Lyserg in place. She looked up for a brief second as she was picking up the shampoo bottle and comb. She quickly put the items away and went over to Lyserg.

"Hey, is something wrong?" She asked him. Lyserg remained motionless as she stood there.

"You heard everything right?" Lyserg asked. He was afraid Macchi would put him down with how he reacted or something.

"Well...yeah. Kind of hard to tune out your yelling and fighting out there. Look, the important thing is you stood for me. You're the only other person I know who has done that besides Mari or Kanna." Macchi said. Lyserg nodded and opened the door.

"Seven thirty, correct?" Lyserg asked. Macchi smiled and nodded. Lyserg gave a smile back and left her room. Macchi grinned and looked back at her arsenal.

"Well, I better get started." Macchi grabbed the black sock mask from her bag and put it over her head. She picked up the suitcase and when out onto the corridors to cause mischief, holding that black book in hand.

Lyserg was out by Zen gardens. He lost himself in the swirls and turns of the rock waves. Nothing was happening much. Horo was trying to get Jeanne to date him again, and he complaining about there was no caramel. Pilica was doing who knew what, Ren was mediating, hopefully he was, Jun was out going something, Faust went somewhere as well, and Yoh was kept to help Anna with the baby. And Lyserg knew Tamao would be with Hao, one hundred percent. Footsteps walked across and stopped right after they passed. They approached him from his right side and the figure sat down.

"Hey Lyserg, how you doing?" Tamao said. Lyserg almost jumped when he heard her voice.

"Oh, f-f-f-fine, and y-y-you?" Lyserg stuttered. Tamao giggled a bit. 'Come on Lyserg! Think of her as other person, think of her as...Macchi! Tamao is Macchi, Tamao is Macchi.' Lyserg thought and repeated in his mind.

"I'm pretty well myself." Tamao replied. Lyserg nodded and gripped the sliding. Tamao looked at the Zen garden with Lyserg. Lyserg concentrated all his thoughts on that Tamao was Macchi. "So, have we ever really talked before?" Tamao asked. Lyserg almost jumped again.

"N-no, I don't think so." Lyserg said.

"So...you wanna do something Saturday?"

"What?!" Lyserg yelped. "What about Hao?!" Lyserg asked. Tamao giggled to herself.

"Well, we are getting married, but that doesn't mean we have to be with each other twenty-four seven. Besides, it be a good chance to get to know you." Tamao said. Lyserg was still shaking with fear. "Lyserg, we'll be going as friends. It's not like a date." Tamao said further. The word 'date' struck Lyserg's mind like a bell. "So does Saturday sound good? I know Hao will be fine with it." Tamao asked.

"Um...s-sure." Lyserg muttered. Tamao looked directly into his eyes. Lyserg was paralyzed.

"Is something wrong?" Tamao asked him.

'Great, now she figured out I like her. Man, this isn't going well.' Lyserg thought. "Sure, Saturday sounds find. I was just a bit hesitant cause I...had to make sure I was open." Lyserg said. Tamao smiled and got up.

"Ok, Saturday it is. Meet here, ok?" Tamao said. Lyserg nodded and waved goodbye to her. Once she walked off back to the mansion, Lyserg let out a huge sigh.

"Man, that was so bad. I wish I just talk to her and not have to worry about." Lyserg said doubtfully. He looked at watch,

6:07 P.M.

'Well, I better get going and grab something to eat.' Lyserg thought. He got up and walked back to the west wing of the mansion. Tamao was right behind the door and heard what Lyserg said. She looked down in doubt and pity for Lyserg.

'So he was just like me...and that means...' Tamao thought to herself. She looked back at Lyserg and realized what he was feeling. Tamao walked back to the kitchen, knowing Horo, one of her ex-boyfriends, be waiting for food. Lyserg continued to walk by letting his mind run wild and entered the mansion.

'If only I could talk to her, face to face and let he know how I feel.' Lyserg thought, 'Then, I could say I at least tried.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well...I remember Kiyuu-chan and I were arguing about this chapter and the...well I won't go there, yet, because she and I knew that Lyserg and Macchi wouldn't even be within 5 feet of each other. So that's why I got Ren and we tried to explore Lyserg's psyche for helping Macchi...maybe that's what makes it so cute (Dra-goon-san is murdered by thousands of Macchi and Lyserg fans alike)

Auch! It's a livin...


	6. Chapter 6

Uh…I'm still alive? Well…fangirls aren't that tough then (or maybe I should reconsider). But anyways, I'll try to update about every 1-2 weeks, and I hope to end this thing by at least New Years. Also to answer some very puzzling questions, like Kiyuu's some recent comments (#14 for future date, and another one I got). I tried to base the story as much as I could to the Manga, so yes, spoiler, the Hanagumi does die, but several things are fictional and added for…flavor, like Meene's death.Really, I think anyone could enpicture Macchi killing Meene, some more than other…Ok enough of me (sheesh I was always give these long intros), so onto…

Chapter 6…

OH! And Kiyuu-chan, hands her a ramen cup , for the last one you puked on when you read chapter 5 . Ok, NOW onto…

Chapter 6

Lyserg woke up and forced himself into the dining room. His eyes were still half-shut and his arms felt like dead weight. In the room everyone was still tired, wanting to continue to sleep, expect Tamao wasn't there and Macchi seemed quite hyper. Lyserg slummed down and sat down to Macchi. Macchi continued to look at her watch, like she was waiting for a store to open. Lyserg looked around the room. No one was in the kitchen, it was Tamao's day to cook. Horo was dragging across the floor.

"Food…I need…food…" Horo moaned. Ren slapped him upside the head and Horo rolled over on his side.

"Shut up. So Tamao wanted to sleep in. I don't blame her…" Ren said, 'But I wish that ditzy girl hurry up!' Ren thought to himself. Yoh looked at the clock above the kitchen door, the clock read seven twenty five A.M. Yoh looked back to the kitchen.

"There was also no caramel last night! I…need…sugar." Horo continued to moan. Pilica slapped Horo on the other side.

"Horo, you know what sugar does to you. Who ever took it, I'm going to thank them." Pilica scolded her brother. Ren smiled to himself seeing Pilica slapping his rival.

"Um…guys…is this strange?" Yoh asked. Everyone looked toward Yoh's direction. "I mean, Tamao is usually the first to get up. It's unlike her to sleep in." Yoh continued to explain. Faust walked in with his usual attire and a cup of coffee. When he looked down at the table and saw it bare he was quite shocked.

"Um…are we skipping breakfast?" Faust asked. If anyone said, 'Yes', he would make sure they got the lecture of their life on nutrients and that medicine stuff and what it did to your body. Yoh looked up to the German giant.

"That's what we were thinking as well." Yoh said. Macchi suddenly got up and that got everyone's attention.

"Why don't we check her room people?! Sheesh, if she was sleeping she be in there." Macchi said. Everyone gave themselves a mental slap in the head thinking, 'Why didn't I think of that.'

Everyone followed behind Yoh to Tamao's room. Hao was the closest to him in case something had happened to Tamao. They slowly approached her door and Yoh lightly knocked on the door. Not a sound came out. Yoh looked back at everyone in fear of what to do next. Macchi began barged through everyone. Her hyperactivity was overtaking everyone this morning.

"Come on open the door already!" Macchi shouted to the front. Yoh slowly slid the door and gaped at what he saw. He slowly moved back and Hao inside. He gasped as well and when everyone else looked, everyone either screamed or gasped, expect for Macchi. Tamao was duct tape to the floor with her arms across her chest like a mummy. Her mouth was also duct-taped as well, but that was only the beginning. The room was cover with strings that created a labyrinth of wires and strings. And to top it all off, there were spiders and beetles crawling all over Tamao. Her eyes were wide open in fear as she was trying to scream through the tape. Hao rushed through everyone to get as close to Tamao as he could.

"Tamao! Is everything ok?!" Hao asked her. Tamao tried to shake her head, but it was hard to move her body. Hao began to forward Tamao, but he tripped one wire. At first Hao thought it was nothing, but a large bucket was overhead Tamao. It began to pour out a light brown liquid that was thick like molasses.

"MY CARAMEL!" Horo shrieked. Macchi ran to back trying to hold her laughter in. The whole bucket poured all over Tamao's face and into her hair. Hao ripped through the wires and quickly pulled off the duct tape off Tamao. She gasped for air after Hao removed the tape on her mouth and cried in his arms. Lyserg realized that he missed his chance to play the shinning knight, but something else happened. An another large bucket of bugs came swooping down and dumped its cargo all on Tamao. She shrieked and tried to wipe the bugs off, but the bugs stuck to the caramel and made it impossible to get them out. Hao tried to help her but his efforts were in vain as well. Horo chucked a bit, but a sharp elbow from Pilica shut him up. Everyone backed away knowing the two would need some time together. Lyserg found Macchi in the kitchen laughing as quietly as she could.

"Um…why are you laughing?" Lyserg asked.

"What do you think?! Did you see Tamao's face! It was priceless!" Macchi continued to laugh. Lyserg shook his head in disgust.

"Macchi, please tell me that was it." Lyserg said. Macchi shook her head still laughing. Lyserg's eyes widened in fear to think what would happen next. A few minutes later Tamao entered the room. She had just taken a fast shower to mainly get that caramel out of her hair. Everyone just started at her as she walked in. Hao was even there and almost burst out laughing. Lyserg looked at Tamao as well and gasped. Everyone to giggle softly and confused Tamao.

"Ok…what is it this time?" Tamao asked.

"YOUR HAIR!" Horo blurted out laughing. Tamao grabbed a strand of her hair and looked at it. It wasn't pink anymore. It was green. Tamao quickly ran out of the room, probably to the closest mirror. Everyone began to blurt off laughing and a loud scream emerged.

"Oh my god! No way!" Tamao's voice could be heard. Macchi hit Lyserg in the side.

"Go stupid." Macchi commanded. Lyserg nodded and left through the kitchen exit. Macchi continued to laugh with everyone else. Hao's laughter began to die down as he began to think. He then stopped completely. 'No…Macchi, she's…' Hao thought. He didn't dare think what happened next. He turned around and saw Macchi at the kitchen door, still laughing. Hao got up and went through the barricade of laughter. He reached Macchi and pulled her into the kitchen.

"Macchi! Did you?!" Hao asked her rhetorically. His voice was stern, the harshest voice he had ever used to Macchi.

"I dunno. Maybe I did." Macchi answered without doubt. Macchi knew she wouldn't get out of this mess that easily. Hao was a thousands years old, he had an extra nine hundred years over her already.

"What's up this time?" Hao asked her. He felt like he needed to use more force, but he couldn't pull himself together.

"Oh…nothing expect…"

Lyserg searched the entire mansion for Tamao. The laughter had died down by the time he left the mansion to search outside. Lyserg heard the faint sound of crying and walked to the sound. It led directly to Tamao who had her feet swishing in the pond. She continued to cry a few tears went down her face into the water. Lyserg sat down right next to her trying to thing of what to say or just what to do. Tamao noticed Lyserg was there after several minutes of crying.

"Oh…hey Lyserg." Tamao continued to mope. Lyserg was still trying to figure out his game plan when she talked. He figured he better wing it.

"Hey…is everything ok?" Lyserg asked. Lyserg was shocked the sentence came out with such fluency. Tamao sniffed trying to hold back her tears.

"I'm ok…it just…I feel so…" Tamao shuttered, her sentences where broken with short sniffs in-between. "Hated. Like everyone wanted that to happen to me." Tamao finished. Lyserg tried to say something, but nothing came out or he didn't know what to say. "Admit it, you wanted that to happen to me. Make me the punching bag and laugh at me. Not like no one else but Hao cares about me." Tamao scolded herself. Lyserg tried something desperate. He threw his arms around her and brought her into his shoulder. Tamao didn't think twice about what he did. She began to cry in his arms, like if he was Hao. She needed to get that emotion out, and Lyserg held her in.

"That isn't true…" Lyserg said. 'Well…I really don't know.' Lyserg thought to himself. "I…um…" Lyserg tried to come back, but he felt short. "Tamao, everyone wants to see you happy. Trust me." Lyserg tried. He just hoped his attempt helped. He knew that not everyone wanted to see her happy, especially Macchi. Tamao's crying stopped and she continued to splash the water with her feet.

"Thanks, you're such a good friend. I need to tell you something. It's…" Tamao said in a normal tone but she stopped. "My skin feels like it's burning." Tamao said. Lyserg eyes widened in fear. He remembered Macchi mentioning something about burning last night. Tamao's expression quickly went turned painful. "It's really burning!" Tamao panicked. She jumped into the pond, which freaked Lyserg. She had a white shirt on and Lyserg knew what happened to white shirts, he had done through the process several times. Tamao quickly came back up for air. "It won't stop!" Tamao shrieked.

"Tamao hold on. I'll be back." Lyserg said. He got and ran back to the kitchen.

"So do we have an agreement?" Macchi asked Hao. Hao grabbed the waffles as they came out of the toaster.

"Um…was that it? Did you really have to prank her that much?" Hao asked. Macchi giggled to herself.

"Oh it's far from over." Macchi said to herself. She heard loud footsteps coming toward the kitchen. She pulled out the baking powder from the pantry and held it outside the door. Lyserg's hand grabbed the box and quickly fled back.

"So all I have to do is take you out to some lake Saturday?" Hao asked. Macchi nodded.

"Yep, that's it." Macchi replied. Macchi walked back to where Lyserg should be, by the pond.

"Tamao where does it burn?!" Lyserg yelled to her. Tamao's eyes were sealed.

"My face!" Tamao answered back. Lyserg opened the box of baking powder.

"Ok, keep your eyes and mouth closed." Lyserg instructed her. He threw the powder over Tamao's face. Tamao's eyes slowly opened, the pain was gone.

"Um…what happened?" Tamao asked. Lyserg closed the box and put it down on a nearby rock.

"A base such as baking powder will neutralize an acid such as…whatever that was." Lyserg explained. Tamao nodded in agreement not understanding a word he said. She dunked her head under and reemerged, then Lyserg almost screamed. Tamao got out of the water and started to squeeze the water out of her shirt, which had a faint blue stain.

"Man…I'm going to have to take another shower and I hate wet jeans." Tamao said. She looked at Lyserg's horrified expression. "Is something wrong?" Tamao asked him.

"T-t-t-tamao. Your skin is b-bl-blue." Lyserg shuttered. Tamao though he joking at first so she looked back at the water. Once she looked at her reflection she screamed.

"Lyserg! No…no! This is the worse day ever!" Tamao began to cry again.

"No…I didn't! Really! Tamao, I didn't do anything, you know that!" Lyserg pleaded. Tamao tried to pull herself together again.

"Ok…Lyserg…thanks for helping me. I trust you. I'll just stay…low now." Tamao said. She gave Lyserg a fast hug and sneaked into the mansion. A sudden burst of laughter came from around back.

"Oh my…that was soooo good!" Macchi roared with laughter. Lyserg looked at her disgusted.

"Did you really have to go that far?" Lyserg asked. A sudden scream came from where Tamao went. Macchi turned her head to the scream.

"Oh…looks like she ran through spiders." Macchi continued to laugh. Lyserg was fed up with these pranks. He was expecting something simple like switching nail polish, but nothing like this. This was ridiculous.

"Ok, stop it Macchi." Lyserg said. Macchi continued to laugh. She had no regard with Lyserg's request.

"I can't. The hex hasn't been lifted yet." Macchi continued to laugh. Lyserg was confused.

"A hex? You mean like…a curse?" Lyserg asked. Macchi nodded. Lyserg got up and stared at Macchi. "Then lift it." Lyserg ordered. Macchi stopped laughing and grabbed her gut. It was bursting with pain from the laughing.

"I told you, I can't! The only way to lift the curse is…ah…I forgot." Macchi said. Lyserg walked toward her and stopped inches away.

"Lift it!" Lyserg scolded her. Macchi took a step back.

"Ok, ok,. I'll try to find the counter-curse. Besides, you need a major tic-tac!" Macchi said. Macchi went back into the mansion, pass the spider webs, the spilled paint buckets, and the ink spills. Lyserg followed her pressing her to hurry up. They went through the corridors, pass the broken door, the fallen ceiling boards, and the busted floorboard to Macchi's room. Macchi quickly pulled out a black covered book and turned the pages. Lyserg leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. Macchi fingered scrolled down the complex spells. Her finger stopped at a diagram of a circle.

"Ok, found it." Macchi said. Lyserg walked over to her and looked down at the diagram. "All we have to do is have someone kiss her." Macchi said. Lyserg looked at Macchi disgusted.

"You can't be serious." Lyserg said doubtfully. Macchi nodded her head. He still couldn't believe a counter-curse be truly that easy to do.

"Yep, someone has to kiss her. Now, just how we get Hao to kiss Tamao or…" Macchi said. Her eyes shifted to over to Lyserg.

"No way I'm kissing her." Lyserg complained. "If Hao found…"

"IF he found out." Macchi interrupted. Lyserg blushed that bright red again. "Just think it's me or something." Macchi said. Lyserg face was redder that a cherry.

"O-o-oo-k-k-kk, I c-can do t-t-this." Lyserg shuttered. He got up and talked to Tamao's room.

"Ok, now for my part." Macchi said. She ran the opposite way looking for Hao. Macchi then stopped suddenly and rethought about what she said. 'Think it's me…'. It stopped here right in tracks. The memories of that one kissed returned. She could feel her heartbeat get faster and fainter. She shook her head furiously and ran to find Hao.

Lyserg knocked on Tamao's door. He knocked pretty lightly and even if it was heard it probably be ignored.

"Tamao you in here…" Lyserg said as he opened the door. He stopped when he saw what he saw. Tamao and Hao were kissing, mouth to mouth, and they weren't standing still, but they did have clothes on. Lyserg slide the door closed and turned around. "Ok…that was…interesting." Lyserg said trying to erase that image of the two kissing. He could hear Tamao talking. He knew it would be rude to eavesdrop on her, but he couldn't resist. Something told him he should, or the curious just took him in.

"Hao…" Tamao cried. Lyserg figured they must have stopped kissing. "Hao, I don't what I do without you." Tamao cried. Lyserg could imagine that Tamao would be crying on Hao's shoulder. His own was still a tad wet. "I still remember…when we first met like this." Tamao whispered. Lyserg pressed his ear to the door. "You remember it, right?" Tamao asked Hao.

"Of course I do. It was…it was a few weeks after Macchi died." Hao said, his voice quickly went to sorrow.

"Do you still having feelings for her? I won't be jealous." Tamao said.

"Well…yeah I do…"

"Ah…you still do?" Macchi's voice blurted out.

"Macchi! What are you doing here?!" Hao yelled at her.

"What?! Not like Lyserg right behind the door!" Macchi yelled back. Lyserg froze, paralyzed in his own fear. Hao opened the door and looked outside. Lyserg was still frozen in fear.

"Oh…hey, hey can I talk you with you later? Don't worry, I'm not mad at you." Hao whispered. Hao turned around to Macchi.

"See. Told ya!" Macchi said. She stuck out her tongue and dropped down from the window. "Don't forget our promise!" Macchi yelled back through the window. Lyserg slowly sneaked into the room with Hao.

"So…yeah…" Hao started to say. Tamao got up and walked to the door.

"I'll just leave you two here while I get this blue stuff off." Tamao said. Lyserg looked back at Hao and gulped. He was afraid Hao would give Lyserg the beating of his life for talking to Tamao.

"Hey…thanks for your help." Hao said. His voice had a bit of uncertainty in what he was thanking Lyserg for. Lyserg was a bit shock, but he then thought about how illogical his reasoning was. "She's always feared no one cared her, much less notice her. You…whatever you did made her feel better." Hao continued to praise Lyserg. Lyserg began to recall his memories. Very few times had Tamao even been noticed, much less he feared he might had never noticed her in the first place when they first meet. "Really, I know we've had our…disputes. Let's just put that behind now." Hao said. He held out his hand to shake Lyserg. Lyserg stared at his hand for a moment. Lyserg slowly reached out. When his finger touched his hand, he quickly withdrew. The burning soared through Lyserg's fingers. The memories of his parents and their horrible death haunted his mind. Could he really forgive Hao for all that he did to him, like he did with Macchi? "Hey, you ok?" Hao asked. Lyserg regained his senses and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm just kind of shocked and happy at the same time." Lyserg said. Both Hao and Lyserg shook hands, ending their horrible conflict between each other, or at least holding a trust. "Yeah…that felt good. You know about my…thing with Tamao Saturday right?" Lyserg asked Hao. He still afraid Hao would beat him up.

"Yeah, she told. I'm cool with it and that's when Macchi arranged our little date of death as well." Hao said.

"Oh ok. Do you have something against Macchi? Do you know she's been trying to get your attention?" Lyserg asked Hao. Hao was shocked and shook his head.

"No. I never did. So that's why…" Hao said and stopped. They both knew what they were thinking. "So that's what she's been planning this whole time." Hao said.

"So do you ever think about her? I know Macchi thinks of you all the time, maybe too much." Lyserg tried to joke. Hao's fist tightened then relaxed. The cracking of his knuckles frightened Lyserg.

"Trust me, I do. If only you knew what we've been through." Hao said. Lyserg began to head to the exit.

"Well, I think I'll ask Macchi. It may bring some of her memories back." Lyserg said. Hao looked at Lyserg shocked.

"She…she forgot about her past?" Hao asked.

"Well, Macchi hasn't forgotten everything. She remembers you and the Hanagumi, but that's it. Look, don't worry about it. Well see ya." Lyserg said. Lyserg left the room and headed back to his room, can't believing he just shook hands with his worst enemy. Hao continued to stare at the ground in shame.

'It's my fault Macchi is like this. If only I could have…saved her.' Hao thought. He put that thought aside. All this thinking about Macchi was only making his more depressed. He sat down on floor and waited for Tamao to return. In the meantime he picked up a book by his light stand. A fine novel entitled 'The Scarlet Letter'. Hao found it interesting how much the world had changed since he lived and how others treated others back then. He pulled out his bookmark and began to read.

Lyserg when back to the main dining hall. Lunch was the typical 'fend for yourself'. No one was there but Macchi. Macchi swirled her chopsticks in her curry flavor Ramen. Lyserg when in the kitchen and pulled out some roast beef and two slices of bread. He prepared the sandwich and went back to the hall and sat by Macchi. She tried to pick up the ramen with her chopsticks, confused on how Anna and Yoh did.

"God! Why don't people just use forks!?" Macchi yelled at the chopsticks. Lyserg quickly went back in and got a fork and brought it back to Macchi. Macchi quickly grabbed the fork and began to spin it in the soup, tangling the noodles together between the points.

"Hey Macchi, I got a question." Lyserg said. Macchi stopped for a moment and looked at Lyserg. "Did you and Hao have anything…special before now?" Lyserg asked her. Macchi set the fork down in the soup and began to think. Her memory was small and finding a memory would be hard.

"Well…I think there's one…maybe two. I remember Hao once took me out for dinner. I don't why he did that, but we talked about his plans for the future and stuff." Macchi said. Lyserg nodded.

"And did he mention about his future with you?" Lyserg then asked. Macchi was trying to figure out where he was going with this.

"Yeah…he did. Something about he would need a queen and he said that I would be it. I thought it was so cute for him to do that. Oh course, back then Tamao wasn't in the way." Macchi continued to tell the story. Macchi looked at Lyserg trying to figure out his motive. "So why now you're asking me this?" Macchi asked him. Lyserg blushed slightly and yelped.

"Well, I just talked with Hao and he said he still was thinking about you and you guys went way back." Lyserg barely muttered out. Macchi smiled and slurped her ramen. Lyserg in turn took a bite out of his sandwich.

"Yeah…we go back a long way. He found me when I was six." Macchi began to say. Lyserg looked at Macchi, hoping to learn more about her mysterious past. "That's all I remember." Macchi said, which disappointed him. Macchi then got that surprised look in her eyes, she had another idea. "Lyserg, you wanna go on a date?" Macchi asked him. She was quite confident when she said this and Lyserg almost choked on his sandwich. "Not a real one silly, a 'practice' one." Macchi said trying to get Lyserg to shallow his food. Lyserg nodded in agreement. "7 o'clock tonight at…well at the mansion entrance." Macchi said. Lyserg nodded again and tried to shallow his food as fast as he could. Macchi picked up her ramen bowl and left the room. As soon as she turned left she waved that direction.

"Hey, Faust, what's up my man?" Macchi said.

"Ah…nothing…much." Faust tried to answer to the hip new type of talk. Faust entered the room with his white doctor's suit still on. "Well good to see you Lyserg." Faust said.

"Same to you." Lyserg replied back. Faust looked in the fridge.

"So…how's your…'date' coming along?" Faust asked. Lyserg blushed and nearly choked on his sandwich once again. Faust laughed lightly. "Sorry about that, but my ears can't help but over hear what people say." Faust said. Lyserg looked down. Faust knew the trouble. Dating problem, but he figured he let Lyserg ask.

"Um…Faust, can you give me some advice?" Lyserg asked, his voice was shaky.

"Why of course. Better me than Ryu." Faust said. Lyserg looked up a tad confused.

"Ryu…where has he been?" Lyserg asked. Faust was as shocked as Lyserg.

"I dunno. I think he's still in the Americas." Faust answered.

"Oh yeah…" Lyserg whispered. "So, um…what is advice you have on…um…dating." Lyserg asked. Faust came back in with some salad with some Italian dressing. Faust sat down across Lyserg.

"Well first off, who's your date?" Faust asked. Lyserg blushed and looked down toward the ground knowing Faust wouldn't like it.

"Er…Macchi." Lyserg said. Faust felt like hitting Lyserg with a hammer hoping to knock some sense into the boy. Faust didn't hate her, by any means, its just she was so wild and he knew Lyserg was making a mistake.

"Ok…well number one rule is be yourself. I mean, that's the side Macchi wants to see in you, right?" Faust said. Lyserg simply nodded in agreement. "Second rule, do not get any pasta!" Faust instructed him. Lyserg was confused. Why shouldn't he eat pasta?

"Why shouldn't I?" Lyserg asked. Faust sighed in disbelief.

"I lost one too many dates that way. Besides pasta gets so messy." Faust said. Lyserg was even more confused than before.

"So what about Eliza? And why do you have Italian dressing?" Lyserg then asked curious of his motives.

"Well, I never told anyone else about this, but there was a time when I was afraid that Eliza wouldn't make it. I thought about moving on, but that changed pretty quickly. And I love Italian much better than Ranch. Just because they have pasta doesn't mean I hate them." Faust answered.

"So what made you go with Eliza?" Lyserg asked still curious about Faust's love life.

"Well, no one else was like her. She was special in her own way and I never stopped thinking about her. Even when I was on a date I thought about her." Faust answered again. A slight glimmer of hope appeared to Lyserg, maybe it was possible to get Hao back together with Macchi.

"Ok thanks Faust." Lyserg thanked him. Faust nodded and pierced his salad with the fork.

"Of course." Faust replied back. Lyserg went back to his room to get this date prefect. Faust continued to eat his salad by his lonesome. Then it hit him. He never told him rule three. 'Don't over-dress.'


	7. Chapter 7

Ok…well not much to say about this one, besides the fact I wrote it at 11:00…PM! And there were so many careless mistakes. Ugh…well, I hoped I debugged it pretty good…so onto the story with…

Chapter 7

Lyserg was standing by the mansion entrance just like Macchi said. It was still five minutes till seven, but he felt like it was better to be early than on time. He his plain white button up shirt with his plaid cape ready. He also had black slacks and black shoes accompanied by his crystal necklace. Morphine popped out his pocket and flowed around her master.

"I still think you're over-dressed." Morphine commented. Lyserg clipped his cape on ignoring what she said.

"Morphine, you know I always dress like this. This is casual for me." Lyserg said. Morphine pouted and crossed her arms.

"I still think you should at least worn that red shirt I picked out for you." Morphine complained. Lyserg shook his head.

"I don't even what that shirt said. What if it was offensive?" Lyserg asked.

"Hey Lyserg." Macchi called out. Lyserg turned around to see her and he was shocked. She had on the tightest jeans he thought he ever saw and she had on a black tank top. Her hair was in the usual pigtails and she no make-up on. Lyserg thought it was more of a formal date like going to a café or the movies.

"I told you to be more casual." Morphine taunted him.

"Aren't we Mr. Dress-up?" Macchi taunted him next. Lyserg felt so ashamed. He though he had this date all figured out and he already made one mistake. "Eh, whatever. Hop in the car." Macchi said which was followed by a gasp from Lyserg.

"Macchi! You can't drive! You have to be eighteen to drive one of the cars!" Lyserg warned her. Macchi unlocked the car and shrugged.

"Well, never knew the rule so I can't get in trouble." Macchi said. Macchi hopped in the car and unlocked the other door to the van. "Get in already." Macchi yelled at him. Lyserg had no choice but to go. He got on the passenger side and Macchi just stared at the controls. "So…you know how this thing works?" Macchi asked him. Lyserg smacked himself on the head.

"Let me drive." Lyserg said.

"Wow I never you so good at driving either." Macchi said. Lyserg gripped the steering wheel for his dear life hoping it wouldn't slip. His foot was barely touching the gas pedal. He was at least five miles per hour under the speed limit. He approached the city from the back roads and surprising it wasn't crowded as he thought it was. He was afraid he would step on gas too much or he break too fast or another car would pass him.

"Macchi where are we going?" Lyserg asked her. He had a strange feeling in his stomach. He didn't like not knowing where he was. He was afraid he miss their turn, and then he really would have screwed up this date.

"It's a place I remember for an odd reason. I think me, Kanna, and Mari went t here a lot and we partied…a lot." Macchi said. Macchi suddenly gripped the steering wheel. "Right!" She commanded. Lyserg turned the van right, but he took the turn to fast. He was almost in the other lane and the car seemed like it would tip over at any time. Lyserg grabbed the steering wheel for his dear life and hoping not to die.

"Please don't do that." Lyserg stuttered. Macchi looked back at the road.

"Left on the next turn." Macchi commanded him next.

A little while later the two arrived at the parking lot. Lyserg turned off the engine and got out the car panting. Macchi opened the door and looked at the abandoned building.

"I don't ever want to drive again." Lyserg panted. Macchi continued to walk toward the building. There were a few other cars around them, but not enough to be considered a party. Macchi went to the rusted door and knocked twice on the door. Lyserg was right behind her. An eyehole slide open and a pair of dark eyes peered through. Lyserg could hear some music inside, but he couldn't make out what it was.

"Can I help you two?" The grim voice spoke. Lyserg quickly backed up and shivered with fright. How could Macchi even think about going in there?

"Hey Goemon, how's it been my man?" Macchi said in a slangy way. The eyehole closed the old door opened. Lyserg stared at the towering giant and gaped. He was a black man who was at least six four. His head was shaved and his hands were huge and looked as rough as rocks. He had on a dark blue tank top and a pair of loose jeans shorts.

"Ah, Ma-ti! How's it been girl?" Goemon said. He held his fist out and Macchi slammed her fist into his very lightly.

"Just chilling." Macchi replied. Goemon looked down at Lyserg, who was shaking in fear.

"Your bf?" Goemon asked. Macchi turned around to Lyserg and turned back.

"He's the step below." Macchi answered. Goemon gave a slight 'ah'.

"You saving up for the big boy, eh?" Goemon said. Macchi nodded.

"So what's tonight?" Macchi asked. Goemon looked to the right to look at the bulletin.

"Ah, you in luck. Couple's night." Goemon said, even though in truth, really didn't know what night it was, but it sounded good enough. He moved to the right and opened the way into the building. "Enjoy your night." Goemon said. Macchi nodded and grabbed Lyserg arm and brought him inside. "Ah, Ma-ti!" Goemon said before Macchi went down the stairs. She turned around to hear his question. "Where's Kanna and Mari?" He asked. Her smile quickly turned to a sad frown. "Oh…sorry about that." Goemon apologized.

"No…it's ok. They…died. Horrible car accident. I wasn't with them. Pretty sad stuff." Macchi said and Lyserg wondered if it was true, which he knew it really wasn't. Goemon nodded and closed the door. Macchi quickly when back to a smile and pulled Lyserg down. The music banged in his ears. There weren't any words or even any recognizable instruments. Strobe lights lighted the floor with hundreds of people just dancing however they wished. Macchi pulled him onto the dance floor into the middle of everyone. Lyserg's ears were blared with noise. He was in a ocean of hands and people moving in random directions.

"Dance stupid!" Macchi yelled.

"What?" Lyserg yelled back. "I can't hear you."

"Just Dance!" Macchi yelled back into his ear. Lyserg squinted his eyes from her voice and looked around. He was in a whirlpool and he couldn't make out one person from the other. He looked at Macchi. She was just jumping up and down her eyes closed. Her arms were loose and she was completely indulged in the music. Lyserg tried up and down, but he didn't feel the groove. He couldn't keep his arms loose, and he hated the music. After a few minutes opened her eyes to check on Lyserg. He kept looking around lost and confused. Macchi stopped and slapped Lyserg across the face.

"What are you doing?" Macchi asked him.

"What am I suppose to do?!" Lyserg yelled back.

"Just dance!"

"What?!"

"I said just dance!" Macchi yelled back. She crossed her arms and stared at Lyserg. "Go ahead, show me what you have." Macchi commanded. Lyserg blushed and froze. He didn't what to do. He never danced. "You have to get loose. Don't worry. You're not the only idiot here. Don't even think of the other people. It's just you and me and no one else." Macchi yelled at him. Lyserg was still lost. He tried to move his feet back and forth and swung his arms back and forth. Macchi rolled her eyes. "This ain't the Beatles, Sherlock! We're going duo." Macchi said. Lyserg was lost and had no clue what she was taking about.

"What?" Lyserg asked back. The music seemed to get fainter and everything was slowly down.

"You know…dirty dancing." Macchi said. She wasn't yelling anymore, she had a normal tone.

"Um…that kind?" Lyserg asked, only knowing dirty dancing from the movie, "But isn't that really…offensive?" Macchi shook her head and smiled.

"Not as long as I want you to. You're not the only who's hasn't touched my butt." Macchi commented. Lyserg was still frozen. Macchi turned around and pressed herself against Lyserg. His face blushed a rosy red. "Come on. Touch me." Macchi commanded him. Lyserg put his hands on her side. She quickly put her arms behind his head move them up and down. Lyserg face couldn't get any redder. Macchi then spun around with her eyes half opened. Lyserg stayed right there. Her arms where not across his shoulders. She was a mere inch from him. Her right hand began to slid down his back and pulled him closer. Lyserg tried to move his left hand, but it remained frozen.

"Macchi…help me." Lyserg asked. Macchi began to slow down and she whispered in his ear.

"You have be in love with the music. Like there's nothing else in the world. Right now, I'm the only one here with you. I don't care what you do." Macchi whispered. Lyserg couldn't even hear the music anymore. "We're alone. You love me and I love you. I want to be with you forever." Macchi whispered. She hugged Lyserg tighter. "I don't want to lose you." Macchi cried. Lyserg hugged Macchi in return. He didn't know if what she was saying was true, but ever since that kiss he been suspicious about her. Lyserg closed his eyes, all he saw was her standing, smiling and dancing. Lyserg dance without having to think about it. Macchi spun around again had her arms in the hand, jumping up and down just by an inch. Lyserg hand's started from her and the moved down with the palm facing outward. Macchi followed behind him. He continued down to her hips then moved up to her shoulders. His hands slipped outward and his arms were resting on her shoulders. She placed her hand on his and turned around again.

"Do you…love me?" Macchi asked. Lyserg lip's moved closer and his hand move lower.

"Oh course I do." Lyserg said. Macchi moved forward the last inch and their lips met. Lyserg's hand continued to go lower. Macchi's hand was behind his and held it closer to her's. Lyserg tried to do a little tongue action, but Macchi was way ahead of his. Macchi was felting that warm soft feeling in her heart again. She was indulged to Lyserg and Lyserg only. Macchi left Lyserg after a minute. They both looked into each other eyes. The music slowly returned, the stream of people returned, and Lyserg could hardly hear anything.

"Not bad!" Macchi yelled at him. "I'll give you B, and you let go of me now!" Macchi said. Lyserg then realized where his hand was. With his thumb was in her back pocket and he quickly removed it away. Macchi giggled for a bit and pulled Lyserg off the dance floor. The music was considerable softer, Lyserg could actual hear a guitar, or what he thought as a guitar, or something he could recognize. "Was that fun or what?!" Macchi asked. Lyserg nodded.

"Yeah, that was great. No wonder you come here." Lyserg replied back, blushing as always. Macchi smiled and spun around in her seat. "So Macchi." Lyserg began to ask. Macchi stopped spinning and looked at Lyserg. "Is what you said…um…true?" Macchi looked at him confused.

"What did I say?" Macchi asked. Lyserg shook his head.

"Nevermind."

"No, really! What did I say?"

"Nothing."

"Lyserg! Tell me right now!" Macchi ordered him. Lyserg looked at the ground and leaned against the bar.

"Well…you were saying how to had to love the music, then you said that it just us two, and then you said you didn't want to lose me. Any of this ringing a bell?" Lyserg said. Macchi thought for a moment and shook her head.

"Nope. I never knew I did. But there is something I want to tell you…" Her voice weakened.

"HOW U ALL DOING TONIGHT!?" A loud and recognizable voice said. Both Lyserg and Macchi looked up at the sound came from. "THE KING OF HIP-HOP IS BACK! BOKUTO NO RYU!" Ryu yelled in the mike. The crowd went wild. "Muscle-punch, Root beer all around!" Ryu said. Muscle-punch nodded and signaled the bartender, which happened to be Blue Chateau.

"Macchi do you remember Ryu?" Lyserg asked. Macchi thought again and nodded.

"Man, how could I forget him! He was always busting a move here Thursday nights." Macchi said. "Hey, doesn't that mean Jeanne is back?" Macchi then asked.

"Oh yeah, she would be!" Lyserg yelped. "We really should we get going"! Lyserg panicked. Macchi shook her head.

"Lyserg, are you having fun?" Macchi asked. Lyserg was at first unsure, but he nodded. "Then come on, one more dance." Macchi said. She pulled Lyserg back out to the dance floor once again and it started all over once again.

"It was so nice of you to drive back Ryu." Macchi sweet-talked. Ryu nodded and smiled.

"Why, of course. Besides, I'm saving your skins." Ryu said. Macchi leaned back in her chair and looked at Lyserg. She placed her hand over Lyserg's and kept it there. Lyserg looked down to see the hand there and smiled. "Ok we're here." Ryu said as he pulled the car up. Ryu shut the car off and all three got out, with Faust waiting by the entrance.

"What were you three doing?" Faust asked them. His voice was fierce and very upset.

"Nothing much chief." Macchi replied. Ryu stepped forward and bowed.

"Gomen-nasai, Faust-sama. I was just showing them a good time." Ryu explained. Faust was completely confused on what Ryu just said. Faust hardly knew any Japanese, the alphabet was crazy enough for him.

"He said he was sorry Mr. Faust that he disobeyed the curfew." Macchi said. Ryu nodded.

"Yeah, what she said." Ryu said. Faust sighed.

"Well…ok, you're off the hook from me." Faust said. All three did a little 'yes', "But that doesn't mean you go without punishment. All three of you are restricted to get into any car of any kind for a week." Faust said. All three had to accept it. Ryu gave the keys to Faust and he went back into the mansion.

"Man, I thought we get off the hook for sure!" Ryu said. Macchi giggled and Lyserg looked to the side. "Well, I need my z's, so cya guys." Ryu said and waved goodbye. Both Macchi and Lyserg waved back and then Macchi pulled Lyserg to the next location. They went by that one pond right outside the hallway to Macchi's room. The waning gibbon light's beamed down and lighted the water. "Ok now for the practice part." Macchi said. Lyserg eyes widened.

"P-practice? You mean…you really went on a date with me?" Lyserg said shocked. Macchi sat down and Lyserg sat beside her.

"Well…yeah. I wanted to, is something wrong?" Macchi asked.

"No girl has ever dated me, much less even really be my friend." Lyserg moped. Macchi put her arm around him.

"Oh come, you're not that bad. It's just your more…older guy quality." Macchi tried to cheer him up. Lyserg tried to hold his tears in, he never knew Macchi thought about him that much, to be so kind to him. "Hao…I wanted to tell this for a long time." Macchi began to say. Lyserg stopped mopping and looked at Macchi. She was staring at the water. "You…you brought me under your wing and ever since then…Hao, I love you and I want you to know that." Macchi said. There was much passion in her voice, almost as much as she talked to Lyserg sometimes. "Ok, your turn." Macchi beamed with a smile.

"Oh…um…" Lyserg started to stutter. "So, you have been?" Lyserg asked.

"Quite well, Lyserg." Macchi tried to impersonate Tamao, which she didn't do too bad of a job doing.

"Cool. Yeah…I need to get this off my chest. Do you remember the night when I…I asked if you wanted to walk with me?" Lyserg. Macchi looked surprised.

"So did ask her out before!" Macchi said. Lyserg blushed intensely.

"Um…yeah, well there's when it all started. Tamao, I really want to be with…you." Lyserg said. Macchi nodded.

"Ah, not bad. You need to say love! It is the most important word." Macchi corrected him. "Like…Lyserg I love you." Macchi said in a softer voice.

"Oh ok." Lyserg said, nor sure if she really meant it. She had already scared him once tonight already. He looked down at his watch. It was nine thirty. "Macchi I need to go to sleep. Thank you for the…date." Lyserg said. He got up, but Macchi held onto his sleeve. Lyserg looked down confused. Her smile continued to beam.

"Ok, but you're not going to your room." Macchi said. She continued to drag Lyserg around, and she went into the mansion. She slid open her door and pulled Lyserg inside. "Go on, sit down." Macchi said. She began to unzip her jeans first. Lyserg stayed seated and blushed. She started to pull her jeans, Lyserg quickly turned her head. Macchi turned around to see Lyserg blushing and looking away. She giggled to herself and took off her shirt. Lyserg tried to cover his eyes. The teaching of the X-laws still haunted his mind. "Hey what's wrong?" Macchi asked him. Lyserg was hoping she was at least ten feet from him.

"It's just a thing of mine. I don't like to see women undress." Lyserg said. Lyserg felt her hand remove his from his eyes.

"Come on. When you get with Tamao you sleep in the same bed and you probably dress and undress in front of each. I'm just giving you a sample verison." Macchi said. Macchi removed his other hand and held them. "Now just look at me." Macchi tempted him. Lyserg held his eyes closed.

"No…It's against the code of the X-laws…it's against my morals!" Lyserg pleaded before Macchi slapped him.

"Do they exist anymore? No, so you do whatever you want!" Macchi said. "Just open your eyes." Macchi said. Lyserg could see her hand touching his hair, twirling it and moving her fingers through it. Lyserg opened began to open his eyes slowly. Right in front of him of Macchi. Lyserg kept his eyes focused on her head.

"Ok-k-k-k. Is that it?" Lyserg asked.

"Undo my ponytails." Macchi ordered next with that smile still beaming. Lyserg's hand slowly moved forward the back of her head. He felt the scruchy and slowly removed it. Her hair came down in one flew swoop. Her hair extended a foot pass her neckline and Macchi threw a few strands in front of her face. Lyserg couldn't be help look down and notice the black bra strap. Lyserg turned quickly turned his head away again. "Come on what's wrong?" Macchi asked him. Lyserg gulped and kept his head turned away from her.

"This isn't right. Why are you doing this?" Lyserg said. Macchi beamed with a smile.

"Cause I want to. Cause I want to be with you tonight." Macchi beamed. Lyserg couldn't believe his ears. "It's not like I'll be free like this forever, so I figure enjoy it while I can." Macchi said. Lyserg gulped once again and turned his head toward her. "See, that's wasn't so hard." Macchi said. Lyserg's eyes went up and down examining her. He was yelling at himself to stop doing this, this was wrong and he shouldn't see a girl like this! But no one was complaining. Lyserg especially like her waistline, it curved perfectly. "And if you want…" Macchi began to say. She grabbed one of the bra straps with her thumb and she slid it off her shoulder. That pushed Lyserg too far and he quickly lifted the strap back up.

"Please don't do that." Lyserg pleaded. Macchi began to giggle and she crawled into her bed. "Ok…I'll just leave now." Lyserg said. He began to get up, but once again Macchi grabbed his arm and pulled him into the bed with her. Lyserg face was possibly breaking world record for being red. "Macchi why are you doing this?!" He questioned her, again. Macchi continued to smile.

"Think about it, Lyserg." She answered. "When you get married to Tamao, you'll sleep by her side every night! And you'll see her in her panties. I'm just giving you a head start." Macchi said. Lyserg looked away again. "Besides, I know you want to." Macchi taunted him. Lyserg wished Morphine could pull him out of this one. Macchi's hand began to unbutton his shirt. He fretted and pressed himself against the wall. Macchi looked up at and continued to smile. "Look, I promise I won't do anything…weird." Macchi said. "I just want to be with you tonight." Macchi said, her voice was tearing and desperate. Lyserg relaxed and slipped into the small bed. Lyserg was on the right, Macchi on the left. Her lips were inches away. "Lyserg, there's something I really wanted to tell you." Macchi whispered. Lyserg looked deep into her eyes.

"Yeah?" Lyserg simply said.

"Lyserg…I…you're a really good friend." Macchi said. She then gave a light kiss to Lyserg and turned the other way and went to sleep. Lyserg removed his shirt and threw it toward the front of the room. He got up and turned off the lights. The moonlight still shot through and lighted the floor. Lyserg looked down at Macchi. She looked so peacefully in her sleep unlike how she was in real life, just like the after her training, and the time Lyserg secretly visited her. Lyserg could have left, but he didn't. He got back in with Macchi. He put his hand on her shoulder and sunk his head into the pillow. Lyserg was going to confess something right there, but he held back. He didn't know if what he say be true or if he live by it. He closed and eyes and thought of his one goal. 'Do I really love you, Matilda?'.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The sun lighted the floor. Macchi's hand twitched as she felt her hand heat up. She opened her eyes slowly as the light hit her eyes. She turned over to the right side of the bed, Lyserg was still there, surprisingly. Macchi turned her whole body toward him. He was facing straight up with one arm across his chest. "Hey you awake?" Macchi asked him in a whisper. Lyserg's eyes twitched and he opened them half way.

"Yeah….I think so." Lyserg yawned. Lyserg tried to prop himself up and his body fell back into the bed. Macchi tried to smirk and she rolled out on her side.

"I think my bed is too comfortable." Macchi complained. Lyserg looked over at Macchi's direction.

"Why you say that? I think they're all the same." Lyserg said. Macchi got up pulled out a white tank top and some green shorts. Lyserg just look back up at the ceiling. "So, what you gonna do today?" Lyserg asked. Macchi shrugged as she got the tank top on.

"I dunno. I think I'll go shopping with Pilica or something. I heard yesterday the girls were going out today to shop at that 'new' mall. I guess you'll be here by yourself." Macchi said quoting the 'new'. She already had put on the green shorts and got and went to the door. Her head turned around back to Lyserg. "Will you be ok today?" She asked. Lyserg sheepishly nodded. Macchi smiled and opened the door. The door closed as she left. Lyserg continued to lie in her bed. At first he remember how he was afraid he was taking too much room, then too little. Lyserg couldn't sleep by her, but after a while, she seemed to be a part of him. Lyserg lifted himself from the bed and went back to his room. As he walked back to his room he began to think. He began to really think.

'What is love?' Lyserg first asked himself. The answer was never easy. 'How do you know if you're in love? What if it's just a flick?' Lyserg questioned himself further. He opened his door. 'How can you tell which person who really love and whose just a friend?' Lyserg continued. He made up his mind. The only way to find out was to ask others.

"Macchi, hurry up." Pilica yelled at Macchi. She ran to van with a blue shirt and khaki pants on. She had scandals on, which weren't hers, actually, she didn't whose they were. Macchi jumped into the car panting.

"Ok everyone here?" Jun asked. She looked at the rear view mirror. The four were in the back and Anna was on the passenger seat. Jun started the car and started to drive to the mall. Pilica continued to squeal as they went down the road.

"We…are finally going to the mall!" Pilica squealed. Macchi just looked at her.

'What is so great about shopping?' Macchi thought. She then remembered the main objective today. She needed to find out what love really was. She had a faint idea of what it was. Love to Macchi; was wanting to be with someone with the rest of your life. Macchi was now thinking if there was more. She looked outside the window and watched the scenery slowly changed. Then it popped in her mind! She wasn't suppose to be riding in the car. She shrugged, no big deal, she could take another hit from Faust.

Lyserg hopped out the shower and walked back to his room. He began to think who to ask first, or who was here. He thought Ren would be the best choice. He seemed quite matured. Lyserg put his shirt on and pants too, and went to the main dining hall. Lyserg navigated through the hallways looking for anyone. Ren was walking the over way, he was dragging his feet and looked like he always did.

"Hey, Ren." Lyserg said cheerfully. Ren shot a glance at him, striking immediate hostility to Lyserg.

"What you want?" Ren sneered back at him in the nastiest tone he could use Lyserg felt like backing up in case Ren blew a fuse.

"Um…I just wanted to ask you something." Lyserg said. Ren seemed to calm down a bit.

"Alright what is it?" Ren asked him. Lyserg kind of blushed. Ren got a knot in his stomach. 'He better not ask about love.' Ren thought in disgust.

"Um…how would describe love?" Lyserg asked. Ren's inner thoughts were right. He sighed and began to think.

"First off, love is nothing. Marriage is solely to get the woman's possessions." Ren said, his voice terse and strict.

"Um…ok, but if wasn't for that reason, what do look for in girl?" Lyserg then asked.

"She must be ability to prove her worth and sexuality to me." Ren said. Lyserg continued to be spellbound by the barbaric responses.

"Ok…so how do you know if you're in love?" Lyserg asked. He tried to keep a smile, but he couldn't help but be sick. Ren remained silent for a moment, thinking. He never really thought about such things. Such things were left to his parents in providing a marriage.

"Well…I guess it be how loyal she was. If could commit herself to me, then she is worth my commitment to her." Ren answered. Still Lyserg was unhappy with the answer, but it was a start.

"Ok, well thanks." Lyserg said and began to walk off.

"This wouldn't happen to be about Macchi, would it?" Ren asked. Lyserg gulped.

"Er…maybe." Lyserg muttered. Lyserg faced was pure red. Ren shook his head in despair.

"I won't comment any further." Ren said. Lyserg's head turned around. Ren was walking down the other way. He stopped right before a turn.

"Just so you know…I think love is this feeling you get inside of you. No matter what that person does or says or looks like, you still want to be with her." Ren said. He turned left and continued to walk away. Lyserg pulled out a notepad. On it he wrote;

Want to be with her no matter what.

Commitment.

He closed the notepad up and walked toward the main dining hall, the long way around. Ren grumbled to himself as he walked down the hallway. 'I still think Lyserg should kill her.' He thought.

"Finally! The mall!" Pilica squealed. Jun parked in a space, but was too close to the adjacent car on the passenger side. Everyone piled out of the car, with Macchi last. Pilica and Jeanne ran into the mall like folic little girls. Tamao and Anna just walked in as normal people. Jun locked the car and followed behind Macchi. Jun didn't know Macchi very well. She figured know be a good time to get to know her, that was without the other girls around her.

"So Macchi, how are things?" Jun asked her. Macchi blew her hair and put her hands in her pockets.

"Ok I guess." Macchi said, somewhat depressed. Jun knew something was wrong, she didn't know what.

"Is…something wrong? Ren be picking on you?" Jun asked. Macchi chuckled to herself.

"No, I'm not worried about pint-squeak. Jun, I want to know what you think love is." Macchi said. Jun thought about for a minute.

"This wouldn't happen to involve a boy?" Jun asked. Macchi shrugged.

"And if it did…" Macchi said, a small smile shot through.

"Well…I am arranged to a man back in China, so I never was able to explore the world of love." Jun said. Macchi figured as much.

"What is the guy like?" Macchi asked.

"Oh he's quite kind and tall. He is a descendant of a line of shaman like my family, the Taos, but his family is much smaller."

"So what you like about him." Macchi asked. Jun was curious what drove this little girl. Jun thought love was something you didn't need to worry about until you were twenty or older. At Macchi's age, their views were often short-sided. Jun looked down at the girl.

"Well…I say I like because he's very kind and he is willing to help me through my problems." Jun said. Macchi simply nodded.

"Really? That's cool." Macchi replied. Jun just nodded as well.

"So what about you? Jun asked. "Do have someone you consider special?" Jun asked. The electric doors slid open and they both walked through them.

"Well…Hao of course." Macchi said. "He's evil and he likes to torture people." Jun just looked at the girl confused. Could someone really love someone a monster. "Ha! Just kidding!" Macchi joked. Before Jun could reply back, she was gone, back into the stew of the crowd. Jun shrugged and went to the nearest shoe store.

Lyserg entered the main dining hall and found Horo, eating away his poptarts. Horo took a huge bite of his frozen treat.

"Chocolate Sundae…" Horo shuddered. Horo looked up to see Lyserg going into the kitchen. When Lyserg came out her had some toast. Horo smiled. "Wise choice to not take my poptarts." Horo said. Lyserg chuckled with him.

"Yeah I figured that out a long time ago." Lyserg said. Both nodded and laughed. Then Lyserg put on more of a straight face. "Horo I need to ask something on a more serious matter." Lyserg said. Horo put down his food and leaned back. In the back of Lyserg's mind, he had several doubts. Horo was the complete opposite of what he was and all their views were parallel with each other, but like he had any other choice?

"Sure go ahead." Horo said. He seemed completely relaxed.

"Well…I want to know what you think love is." Lyserg asked. Horo eyes widened and he busted out laughing.

"You can't be serious! I'm the master of love. I'm your manual of Love 101." He boasted. Lyserg felt like he could actually get something useful out of this, possibly. "Ok…love, despite all you think it is, is all in the body." Horo said. Lyserg pulled out his notepad and began to fake taking notes.

"The girl has to have a good body. You know, good breast size, a nice waistline, a great neck, cute eyes, smooth hair, and velvet smooth legs." Horo said explaining his dream girl. Lyserg didn't write a single word he said. All he wrote down was;

Has decent looks…

"Ok…but you know beauty is skin deep and only lasts for so long." Lyserg corrected

him. Horo smirked and chuckle.

"True, but admit it. The first you look at a girl what do you look for? Her looks, it's the first and lasting impression." Horo stated. Lyserg had to agree on that. The first time he say Macchi he would have to admit he went far too much off of sinful lust.

"Ok thanks." Lyserg said. Horo smiled back.

"Hey no problem." Horo replied back. Lyserg got up and finished off his toast. He though he saw Faust in the study. He could provide the best explanation, but there was still Ryu, Hao, and Yoh. He decided not to ask Hao because Lyserg feared Hao would get suspicious. And Ryu...well he was Ryu.

Macchi walked into a bookstore. Jeanne had her nose into one of those god forsaken million-page novels. Macchi looked at the selection. Everything had a girly title, like "Chasing After Her", or "The Horse-keeper and the General's Wife". Then she saw the manga, in all it's 200 paged glory., but that could wait for now.

"Hey, wazzup?" Macchi asked breaking Jeanne's concentration. Jeanne put her book aside and looked at Macchi. She got a butterfly in her stomach, if Pilica saw her with Macchi, she freak.

"Quite well." Jeanne responded.

"Ok, let's cut to the chase. What do think love really is?" Macchi asked. Jeanne turned around and looked back at the love novels.

"Oh, love is such a wonder thing we have. The bond between a man and a woman which will do anything to be with each other." Jeanne answered. Macchi didn't understand half the words Jeanne just used.

"Ok…well thanks. Just wanted to see of what you thought it was." Macchi said in the most polite way she could.

"Does having a man call you every second considered love?" Jeanne asked. Macchi shrugged. She didn't know, Jeanne just gave her the most complicated explanation and she needed another to answer her question.

"No…no it's not. Although that does show he is thinking about ya." Macchi said. Jeanne smiled and nodded.

"Well, ok. Thanks." Jeanne said. Macchi left Jeanne and went to the manga selection, picking up the first Naruto issue she could find. Jeanne glanced over at Macchi. 'Man I wished she leave.' Jeanne thought.

Lyserg continued to navigate the hallways. He turned a left, but stopped. He seemed to be heading in circles. He looked back the way he came, and to the left to see Yoh. Yoh looked up and walked toward him.

"So you lost?" Yoh asked him. Lyserg was surprised he knew, but that was Yoh for you. "Just head straight that way and it's the opened door with a light." Yoh said pointing down the hallway Lyserg planned to go down. Lyserg was just going to ask his question by Yoh was way ahead of him. "Love's just one of those things that you can't explain. You know when you're in love or not. It's an inner feeling inside that tells you; 'She's the one.'" Yoh passionately said. Lyserg was shocked that Yoh knew the question.

"How did you know?" Lyserg asked shocked. Yoh scratched the back of his head.

"Um…well you already asked Ren caused I asked him and I thought you be going to Faust next. Lucky guess?" Yoh said. Lyserg nodded still shocked.

"Wow. Thanks Yoh." Lyserg said. He pulled out his notepad and wrote for number four; 'An inner feeling.'

"So, are you wondering if you love some girl?" Yoh asked. Lyserg blushed only slightly.

"Well…yeah." Lyserg said. Yoh patted his back.

"Well good luck then." Yoh smiled. He walked back to his room, probably to attend to the baby. Lyserg looked down the hallway and there was the light just as Yoh said. Lyserg walked to the light and peeked into the door. It was the study and there was Faust sat in a chair. Faust looked up for a slight second and saw Lyserg

"Ah, Guttentaugh Lyserg." Faust said. Lyserg just looked at him confused.

"Gluentag?" Lyserg said. Faust then sat there silent again and then burst out chuckling.

"Oh, sorry about that. Seems my German tongue got the best of me." Faust joked. Lyserg laughed a bit as well. It was a bit funny, but Lyserg had something more important to do that crack jokes.

"Hey Faust. Can I ask you some things about love?" Lyserg asked. He was blushing again. Faust smiled and put his book down.

"More dating tips?" Faust suggested. Lyserg shook his head and pulled out his notepad.

"No, more on the lines of 'What it is and how you know it.'" Lyserg said. Faust nodded and closed his eyes. Probably to remember his dear Eliza and how he felt.

"Ok let me ask you a few questions. First, do you think about her almost all the time?" Faust asked. Lyserg blemished and sat down.

"Well…yeah, most of the time." Lyserg answered. Faust nodded his head and checked a little tally in his head.

"Is this someone that you don't mind being around?"

"No, don't mind at all."

"Are you willing to commit yourself to help her in anyway you can?"

"Be there and done that."

"Does she have decent looks and cute eyes?" Faust then asked. Lyserg was shocked. Here Faust was on a role asking these deep questions then out of the blue with one of Horo's theories.

"Does that matter?" Lyserg asked. Faust thought for a moment and nodded.

"Of course it does. It sparks the relationship with the girl. What you think made me devote myself to Eliza?" Faust said back.

"Looks are a lasting impression." Lyserg answered. Faust nodded and picked up his book.

"It's Macchi, isn't it?" Faust asked. Lyserg's felt his heart skip a beat again and he knew his face be cheery red. "She's quite a nice girl, it's just none of us have forgiven her for her past." Faust continued. "If she's the one, then you need to tell her straight out about how you'll feel." Faust said. Lyserg nodded in response.

"Um…any suggestions on that part?" Lyserg asked. He felt so embarrassed having to know just to say.

"Sure, I'll tell you some guidelines." Faust said and Lyserg went writing away.

Macchi walked into an Old Navy store, a new outlet store they were trying there, carrying her bag from the bookstore, the video game store, and the cosmetic store, but all she got from that store was some red lipstick. Macchi couldn't stand the smell of that place. People spraying the worst perfumes and all the blasted smelling candles, made her sick. Macchi went to the back looking at shirts and tank tops when she spied pretty much the last piece of the puzzle, Pilica. Macchi scratched Anna because she was with Tamao the whole time and it would be impossible to get her by herself, not to mention Anna was just down right mean. Pilica was picking out some sky blue tees, getting the smallest size possible know to mankind or better yet, womankind.

"Hey Pilica." Macchi said. Pilica saw Macchi at the corner of her eye and just wanted to run away, but not with these sales she wouldn't.

"Oh…hey." Pilica said, her attention more to the clothes.

"Hey, you got any ideas about what makes guys want to fall for girls or visa versa?" Macchi said.

"Oh that's easy. Looks. All looks." Pilica said. "Like…the only guy I would ever go out with would have to be five eight, have big biceps, that sexy chest, and more important those dreamy eyes." Pilica described her dream boy. "And that be Ren all the way." Pilica finished. Macchi almost burst out laughing.

"You like pint-squeak? That's gold." Macchi laughed. Pilica pouted and put her hands on her side

"Sure, like the guy you like can compare?" Pilica tested Macchi. Macchi shrugged it off.

"In terms of psychopath, nope. He may not be a hulk, but I like him for that. At least my man thinks about me, what about yours? Does he ever send you flowers? Send you cards? 'Thinks' about you?!" Macchi came right back. Pilica blushed and looked away.

"Well…um…no…but I…I haven't really…um told him yet." Pilica muttered. Macchi saw a sweet deal coming her way.

"So you need some help?" Macchi asked. Pilica shook her head furiously.

"N-no! No! You'll ruin it for me!" Pilica said back. Macchi sighed and began to walk the other way.

"Oh really? That's too bad, cause I have this friend who used this book." Macchi said. She held up her _101 ways to Win a Guy's Heart from Another Girl_ in the air. "She said it worked wonders." Macchi said in a sexy bedroom voice. Pilica grabbed the book from Macchi and read it.

"This…this could really work! Wow, thanks." Pilica thanked her, not believing the words that came from her mouth.

"Hey no problem. What are friends for anyways?" Macchi said. She walked off to the cash register with a few shirts. She sighed as soon as Pilica was out of her range. "About time I got rid of that damn book." Macchi said to herself. She placed her items on the register. 'Besides, I won't need it anymore.' Macchi then thought to herself.

Lyserg's fingers were sore to the bone and his pencil needed to be sharpened again for the third time.

"And that's it." Faust finished. Lyserg looked at the fifty pages of notes he took.

"That's it?! How am I suppose to remember all this?!" Lyserg asked. Faust chuckled himself again. The wonderful days of youth all over again.

"They're guidelines, not rules. Just follow a few of them and you'll get your message out. And most importantly…" Faust said.

"Be yourself." Both Faust and Lyserg said. Lyserg nodded and folded up his mini notepad.

"Ok, thanks Faust." Lyserg said. Faust was about to pick up his book, but something hit him.

"So when's the big night?" He asked. Lyserg stopped in his tracks.

"Saturday…" Lyserg said in a weak voice. He knew he was a cherry red again in the face.

"Tomorrow? I think you should give her a little appetizer tonight then the main course tomorrow. That's what I would do." Faust suggested. Lyserg nodded.

"I'll think about that." He answered. Lyserg went to his room to practice his lines.

"Hey Macchi. So how was your date?" Lyserg asked. He looked at his reflection in the mirror and shook his head. "No…that won't do." Lyserg corrected himself. Lyserg put on more a lady's man face. "Hey, how you doing?" Lyserg asked himself. Lyserg quickly went out of that. He tried a more relaxed position. "Hey, wazzup?" Lyserg asked. He shook his head again. "Macchi…I want to tell you something." Lyserg though for a moment, but shook his head. Too long for an opening, and Macchi may have gotten Hao. He sat down and put his hands on his head. He was already suffering from a major headache. He looked at his watch. It read six P.M. He threw himself on his bed. "Man…I've been practicing lines for the last three hours! And I'm so hungry." He looked at the schedule of duties. Lyserg had trash duty, which he took care of after Macchi left and between the meeting of Horo and Yoh. Macchi had cooking. Lyserg rubbed his eyes and looked at the schedule once more. "No way!" Lyserg yelped. He never had her cooking because he took her night the last time, but he was expecting to bring a barf bag. He heard a car pull up. It had to be the girls. Lyserg braced himself for the worst night of his life.


	9. Chapter 9

Wow...its been quite a while since I've updated...well Dra-goon has been busy --. But fear not (or...no...whatever). This saga is coming a close, quite soon I might add . So please, sit back and enjoy...

Chapter 9

The girls all entered the mansion with their hundreds of bags of a hundred different colors.

"So where should we put all this?" Jun asked. Anna shrugged not really caring, not like she bought much anyway besides maybe a pan to replace the one she used on Horohoro.

"Let one of those good for nothing boys handle it." She said. Jeanne and Pilica looked at each other. Neither of them had a guy, not yet at least.

"Oh hey, Jeanne. How's it going?" Horo asked. Before she could answered he already took the bags and carried them to her room. A few seconds later Ren got Pilica's. Not in a boyfriend girlfriend relation, but just so Horo wouldn't beat him. Jeanne looked at the schedule to see _if_ she had to cook. She gave a quick sigh of relief when she saw she didn't have to cook.

"Well, at least I don't have to cook tonight." Jeanne said. Macchi pushed her aside to see who did, snickering because she was going to make fun of whoever did. Macchi backed away once she saw who did had to cook.

"I have to cook?!" Macchi gasped.

"What? We all have to cook sooner or later." Pilica said. Macchi frantically shook her head.

"You don't understand. I CAN NOT COOK! I can't even make toast, even if my life depended on it." Macchi cried.

"Well, I'll think I'll have takeout tonight." Pilica said. Jeanne nodded and followed her friend. Lyserg came walking down the hallway to meet Macchi.

"Hey. How was your shopping spree?" He asked. It relieved Macchi a bit.

"Oh, it was so great. I had a lot of fun…until!" Macchi said. She then pointed to the schedule list. "I have to cook!" She cried. Lyserg shrugged not knowing what the big deal was. Cooking wasn't that hard!

"So, cooking isn't that hard. Its just Anna demands this gourmet crap." Lyserg said. He realized what he said and covered his mouth, not like it would have done much good.

"What? What's wrong?" Macchi asked him.

"I said…A word of curse." Lyserg almost fainted. Macchi grabbed Lyserg's shirt and shook him.

"What aren't you getting?! I have to cook! ME! I can't even make a s'more!" Macchi cried. Lyserg put his hands on her shoulders. Although it could have been classified as a romantic moment, Lyserg only did it to calm her down.

"Macchi you have to calm down. I'll help you, but I won't do the cooking for you." Lyserg said. Macchi quickly hugged Lyserg swiping herself off her feet.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Macchi jumped up and down with joy.

The two entered the kitchen, a realm Macchi considered completely foreign. She never had to cook. She didn't know what the dials meant or what a cup was. Lyserg went over to the fridge and opened it up.

"So what you want to make?" Lyserg asked. Macchi just gave a long pause of silence. She had made choices like this often. So why was this one so hard

"Um…tacos?" Macchi suggested. Lyserg looked back in the fridge to see if they had the right ingredients.

"Nope, no salsa or tortillas." Lyserg said. He looked deeper into the confines of the barren ice land called 'Horo's Midnight Cabinet'. "We could make a stew or something with beef." Lyserg suggested.

"That's it, a stew!" Macchi beamed. Lyserg nodded and started to pull some ingredients out.

"Ok, just get a pot." Lyserg said. Macchi opened the cabinet door and was shocked.

"Where the in hell is the pot?!" Macchi screamed. There had to been at least twenty different saucepans, double boilers, pots and pans all in one cabinet. Lyserg looked up and pointed to a long huge pot. "Oh…that pot…" Macchi said. She reached up to grab the pot, but another five fell down. One hit her on the head. She put the proper pot down on the stove and looked down at the other pot and smashed it with her foot. "Stupid pot! You hit my…!" Lyserg covered his ears on the next part and grabbed the pot from her foot.

"Macchi! You can't destroy it! If Anna found out…we'll be dead." Lyserg told her. Macchi calmed down and nodded.

"Oh…sorry about that." Macchi apologized to Lyserg. She looked down into the pot. "Yeah…so what do I put in it?" Macchi asked. Lyserg put the items in front of her.

"Well what you think you should put in?" Lyserg rhetorically asked her. Macchi had to think on that one.

"Oh water!" Macchi said. She turned on the water to the sink and waited for it to fill up the pot.

"Ok, good. Now we need to add something for the broth." Lyserg instructed her. Macchi was lost in what Lyserg was talking about. "The part that makes the water taste good, like chicken broth." Lyserg explained further. Macchi then thought for a moment.

"What to use for broth…" Macchi thought. She looked at the fridge and it came to her. She looked into the Arctic wasteland, hoping something was there. She pulled out a Pepsi can. "Here we go." Macchi beamed.

"A little refreshment?" Lyserg asked. Macchi opened the can and walked over the pot. She then poured the liquid into the water. Lyserg gaped and was completely shocked. "Macchi! I thought I hinted you enough with the chicken! You need meat! Not soda!" Lyserg yelled in sheer horror. Macchi looked at the meat and shrugged.

"So, soda tastes good…and so do onions!" Macchi said. She threw a whole bulb into the stew. Lyserg screamed again.

"Macchi to need to cut it up!" Lyserg screamed. Macchi looked at her fingernails.

"I don't think they're long enough." Macchi said pointing to her fingernails. Lyserg smacked himself on the head. He couldn't believe how naive Macchi was acting. "Ok, I'll stop." Macchi giggled. Lyserg gave a sigh of relief. At least Macchi was back to her old self. "But I still don't know how to cook." Macchi added in.

"That's fine. I'll 'help' you, remember?" Lyserg said. Macchi smiled and nodded. "Ok let's get down to business." Lyserg said.

Macchi opened a two-liter of Pepsi and poured it into the stew. Lyserg was sautéing the vegetables, shaking his head as that Macchi was adding Pepsi again, for the third time. Macchi had the steak meat in the microwave. Macchi looked at what Lyserg was doing.

"So what you doing again?" Macchi asked. The microwave timer beeped and Macchi went over to pull the meat out.

"It's called a sauté. It adds flavor to the food." Lyserg explained. Macchi just nodded, all she understood from that was 'it makes it taste better'. Earlier Lyserg was talking about how to cut foods in certain ways and that was enough for her. "Ok done." Lyserg said. He dumped the vegetables into the pot, with butter and all. Macchi then threw in the meat and turned the heat up to seven. "Now we just wait." Lyserg then said.

"Wow, is cooking really this easy?" Macchi asked. 'Ok, it wasn't that easy, but it was easier that I thought!' Macchi thought. Lyserg nodded.

"Of course, that is unless you get into gourmet food." Lyserg said. Macchi continued to nod. She leaned against the fridge.

"Well…How about you tell everyone that the food is almost ready." Macchi said. Lyserg looked down into the stew. It had carrots, onions, peppers, spices, steak pieces, and the secret ingredient, Pepsi, lots of it I might add. It looked almost done to him. He went back into the dining hall to tell everyone dinner was ready, but was shocked at what he saw.

"Oh hey Lyserg." Yoh called out. He waved to him and Lyserg waved back. "Want some Chinese Takeout?" He asked. Everyone else was there eating the take-out as well. Lyserg shook his head and went back to the kitchen. Lyserg was sweating profusely. Macchi wondered what just happened.

"Oh my…um…Macchi, everyone is having take-out." Lyserg said. Macchi sighed. All her hard work had done the drain. "Well, I guess it just us two that will have the stew then." Lyserg said, trying to cheer her up. Macchi got out two bowls and filled her own. "Come on. You should be proud." Lyserg said. Macchi then grabbed a spoon and took a sip. Lyserg filled up his own bowl and grabbed some chopsticks. He picked up a piece of steak and stuck it in his mouth. Lyserg was expecting it to taste horrible, but it didn't. He could taste the meat, it was juicy and tender, but he could also taste the soda. The water wasn't completely liquid, but more of a caramel thickness. The liquid dripped off every piece he picked up. He set his bowl down on the table.

"You think it's horrible, don't you." Macchi said depressed. Lyserg blushed and shook his head.

"No actually…it's quite good." Lyserg commented. Macchi laughed.

"Quit pulling my leg. Admit it, you hate it!" Macchi said. Lyserg shook his head again.

"No really, it's quite good. It's very…unique." Lyserg said. Macchi put her bowl down and continued to lean on the fridge door.

"Come on, you don't have to be nice to me." Macchi said.

"Macchi, your stew is really good!"

"Don't you mean…'our' stew?"

"What?" Lyserg asked. Macchi laughed for a moment.

"You helped me make it. It be rude for me to take all the credit." Macchi giggled. Lyserg blushed again and Macchi continued to laugh at his uncontrollable blushing.

"Well…we're friends. That's what friends do." Lyserg said still blushing, trying to justify his feelings. Macchi moved closer to Lyserg and stood right next to Lyserg smiling.

"Tell me, do you ever think we were something more?" Macchi asked. Blushing Lyserg could feel his heart skipping beats again. He was going to bring that up, but it was too late.

"Well…um…sometimes." Lyserg answered. Macchi grabbed his hand and softly gripped it.

"Come on, just tell me." Macchi said. Lyserg didn't know how to answer. If he answered no, he was afraid he hurt Macchi's feeling, but if he said yes she may be in love with Hao. He gulped and decided.

"Yes, I think we are more than friends." Lyserg answered. He was beginning to feel normal again. Macchi smiled and moved closer to him.

"So you think we're…in love perhaps?" Macchi asked casually. Lyserg began to feel weird again. He wished Macchi wouldn't do that. "I want to know what you think, Lyserg." Macchi said. She grabbed his other hand and swung around and met him eye to eye. She continued to smile right in front of him. Lyserg wished he were used to being around girls. It would have helped.

"Um…I…ye-yes." Lyserg stuttered. Macchi pulled him into the hallway that connected that connected to the kitchen. Macchi gave him a fast kiss on his lips. She quickly came back down, still smiling.

"Good night, Lyserg." Macchi said. She waved good-bye to him as she walked down to her room. Lyserg just waved back and continued to blush. Once she was out of view he slammed his fist into the wall.

"Man. Missed my chance to tell her." Lyserg scorned himself. But he wasn't worried, he still had tomorrow night. Maybe it would be ideal to him or be certain disaster. It was a risk he was willing to take. Horo was in the kitchen devouring down the stew. He stopped and looked at Lyserg.

"Man this is some good stuff!" Horo said. "Great job on it. If I would have known it was this good, I would had this instead." Lyserg smiled and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Well, I can't take all the credit. Macchi helped too. It is 'our' soup."

Macchi put on her nightgown and jumped onto her bed. She liked going that. It was just fun. She curled up into a ball and stretched back out. She crawled into her bed and left space for someone else.

"Fun day, wasn't it?" Macchi asked the person that wasn't there. There was no answer. Macchi turned around to see Lyserg wasn't there. Her sudden joy turned into sudden sadness. She turned the other way and tried to sleep. It didn't feel right. Macchi wanted someone to be there by her. She missed Lyserg's warm touch, his hair, just him there. Macchi felt like there was a piece missing in her bed. She could have gone to ask Lyserg once again, but that would cause too much trouble. She already Lyserg through some major trauma today and didn't want to send any wrong messages. She put Jack in Lyserg's place. It still didn't feel the same. She closed her eyes again and clenched her fists. She wanted Lyserg, as much as she didn't. She knew she belonged to Hao and him only, but she was having all these feelings for Lyserg. He had already helped her so much. Macchi put it all behind her and went to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

I know...I know ! Dra-goon really should update more often > ! Well...swim season is near its end so I'll probably be able to post the last three chapters pretty quickly . OK, enough of my sorry excuses, and let's begin...

Chapter 10

The day was like any other day. Everything went through the motions for the first half the day. Nothing out of the ordinary for most of the day. Once the clock struck four, things began to heat up, as one may have said. Lyserg put of his favorite shirt, his white button-up tux. Macchi threw on a pink tee. Lyserg put on his khaki slacks. Macchi put on some of the jeans, just some random, nothing special about them.

Lyserg made sure his hair was just right. Wetting it down and putting it back in place. Macchi pulled out a cosmetic kit that she "borrowed" without permission from Pilica. She put on some dark blue eyeliner, a bit of blush, and crimson red lipstick. Lyserg threw on his plaid overcoat and fasten his red bow tie. Macchi threw a necklace on and clipped an earring on. Lyserg gave one last sigh and he looked at himself in the mirror.

"Go get um!" Morphine cheered him. Lyserg smiled and petted his fairy.

"Thanks." Lyserg replied smiling, but his hand continued to tremble with fear.

Macchi looked at herself in the mirror. Something didn't feel right. It was just ONE thing! ONE blasted little thing that made everything wrong in some way.

"Ugh! What do I need Jack!" She asked her doll.

The doll remained silent, still giving its ghoulish grin.

"You don't say? You think that's what I need?" Macchi said. She pulled out her scurries and let her hair fall down. She had never seen herself with her hair down since she was revived. It went down her neck and touched her back. She didn't mind it, but it was a tad to loose. Better forthe laterbedroom scene, but not now.

Not to mention she looked like a Tamao clone. She put the scurries back in and made a ponytail. She thought that was better. She thought it made her look older and mature. She smiled and went out the door.

Lyserg was waiting by the pond. He looked down at that small pond. He heard Tamao talk about it a long time ago.

'Every time I look into this pool, I think of the hundreds of other shaman who looked down in this pool during there training. And sometimes…I'll ask for their courage to help me through. Do you have anything like that to you, Lyserg?' Lyserg recalled what she said.

So many people have had their fate with this pond. It could had been a spot where someone decided to take a dip, where fish made their home, when a shaman proposed to another, when someone just wanted to sit down and stare into the endless web and flow. Lyserg heard the door open and turned around to see whom it was.

The girl had longorange hair in a ponytail. She had on a pink tee and some jeans along with a necklace. Not to mention she had way too much make-up for Lyserg.

"Hey, Lyserg." The girl said. Lyserg just stared at this strange, beautiful girl.

"Um…do I know you?" Lyserg asked. The girl slapped him across the face, pretty hard I might add.

"Um…it's me, Macchi! Doofus!" Macchi yelled at him. Lyserg was in shock.

"Wow! Macchi…you look absolutely…beautiful." Lyserg said. Macchi blushed slightly, the first time she had ever blushed in front of Lyserg.

"Oh…thanks." Macchi said, stillblushing. She looked away tosee the main entrance. Hao was standing there waiting for her. "Well…gotta go!" Macchi beamed. She ran over to Hao, grabbing his arm and dragging out the main entrance. Lyserg sighed as he saw Macchi run off. He just hoped nothing horrible would happen. He felt a hand grip his shoulder.

"So, you ready?" Tamao asked him. Lyserg fretted and moved away.

"Um…y-yeah." Lyserg stuttered. Tamao giggled and sat down.

"Come on sit down." Tamao said. Lyserg obeyed as an obedient dog. "So where should we start?" Tamao asked. Lyserg continued to blush. Tamao continued to smile and softly put her hand on his. Lyserg could feel his hand freeze. "Come on, Lyserg." Tamao whined. "This isn't much of a date." Lyserg jumped.

"T-t-t-this is a d-d-d-date?" Lyserg shrieked. Tamao giggled again.

"No, but I know youwant to talk to me, and I want to talk to you." Tamao said. Lyserg calmed down and sighed.

"Ok…that sounds easy." Lyserg said. He looked at Tamao and smirked. "So how's the wedding going?" He asked her.

Macchi continued to pull Hao deeper and deeper into the forest.

"Macchi, where are you taking me?" Hao asked. Macchi continued to run like she didn't even hear him. She stopped right in front of the lake. Hao was in complete awe. "How did you find this place!" Hao asked. Macchi shrugged.

"I dunno, I went for a walk one today and poof! Here it is." Macchi beamed with energy. She pulled Hao down to the water. "Listen, I know we haven't talked a lot…" Macchi said, "But I want to know who I was." Macchi asked. Hao sat down on the rock and threw a stone.

"You are Macchi, what more do you want to know?" Hao said. Macchi squeezed her arms together.

"Hao, I know I wasn't like this. Tell me how I really was." Macchi asked again. Hao sighed. He really didn't want to tell her, it was too painful.

"You were part of the Hanagumi, along with Kanna Bismarch and Marion Phauna. You acted as an assassination squad and battled the X-laws. You killed one of the X-laws, Meene…I forgot her last name." Hao said. He put his hand on his head. "You then were then smashed to death by Peyote." Hao said. A slight tear rolled down his face.

"I knew that Peyote had something against me!" Macchi said smacking her fist. Hao looked at Macchi and smiled.

"But you haven't changed as a person. You're still hyper and full of energy." Hao smiled. Macchi smiled back. His smile quickly turned back to frown.

"So how did you revive me?" Macchi then asked, the question had puzzled her ever since she first awoke. Hao continued to frown. He threw another stone out on the lake. Macchi was becoming concerned. Hao acted liked this oncebefore. "Hao…what's wrong." Macchi asked.

"I didn't revive you." Hao murmured. Macchi sat up straight a bit more.

"What?"

"I…didn't revive you." Hao said. Macchi was shocked, more in shock on how she was alive.

"What do you mean? You were the only one who could have. Hao…" Macchi said. Hao continued to stare into the endless water. Macchi was beginning to think he was telling the truth. "Then who did?" Macchi asked. Hao sighed again.

"The Hanagumi…" Hao said.

"Really? Well I'm on book five right now." Tamao said. "Just imagine if Harry Potter was real." Tamao then giggled. Lyserg laughed lightly as well. "Wow…I never there was that much to you." Tamao continued to talk. Lyserg just nodded trying to avoid talking as much as he could.

"Um…yeah…you never know." Lyserg stuttered. He really wished he practiced more with Macchi. At least he could talk to her. Lyserg looked at his little note and the lines written on it. "Hey Tamao…c-c-can I tell you somet-t-thing." Lyserg stuttered once again. He glanced at his notes.

"Sure, what is it?" Tamao asked. Lyserg had sweat drops the size of quarters coming down his face.

"Um…you won't get mad at me..w-w-will you?" Lyserg stuttered once again. He squinted his eyes. 'Come on Lyserg! You have to pull through this!' He yelled in his mind.

"It wouldn't happen to be something you wanted to say to me Thursday…is it…" Tamao said and gasped. Lyserg was surprised she knew about that. "Oh…gomen nasai. Really, I eavesdropped on your thoughts. I'm really sorry.' Tamao apologized. Lyserg was still wondering what 'Gomen Nasai' meant. He was a bit rusty on his Japanese.

"Goman nasi? What's that?" Lyserg asked.

"No, gomen nasai. It means 'I'm sorry.'" Tamao explained. Lyserg nodded and glanced back down at his notes. Tamao grabbed the note and threw it in the water. "Look, I don't care what you're going to say, I'll still be your friend." Tamao said. There was a slight bit of concern in her eyes. Lyserg gulped and wiped his forehead.

"Ok…Tamao…I think I…I love you." Lyserg said pausing a few times. Tamao nodded.

"I thought so." Tamao answered in a meek voice. Lyserg jumped back freaked.

"You thought so?" He panicked. Tamao nodded and looked into his eyes.

"Well…truth is, Lyserg I love you too." Tamao said. Lyserg could feel his body temperature rise.

'Oh my god! This is it Lyserg.' He thought.

"Well…not like the way with Hao…" Tamao took back. Lyserg gave a huge sigh of relief. It was loud enough that Tamao heard it. "See, even since you took me on the date to that park…well I began to think about you more." Tamao said.

"You…you considered that a date?" Lyserg asked.

"Yeah, you were the first person to take me on one." Tamao answered. Lyserg nodded. He didn't know he left that big of an impact on her. "But…when I met Hao…everything changed. I feel into a deep love with him. At first it was simple visits at a café shop, then dates, then one night he proposed to me. He's a part of me like I'm a part of him. I can't imagine what I be like if I lost him." Tamao said. Halfway through she began to cry.

The last sentence rang in Lyserg's head. Faust said the same thing back in London. Lyserg began to think of Macchi and her plan when they first thought of it. This is why he didn't want to break Tamao and Hao. Tamao wiped away a tear on her right eye. "I'm sorry about that, I just don't want to think about things like that." Tamao muffled. She looked back at Lyserg and smiled weakly. "Can I ask you something?" Tamao asked.

"Um…sure." Lyserg answered and shrugged. He figured it be the best way to repay Tamao.

"What if things…were different? Like we were engaged? Would you…well…you know what I mean." Tamao said. Lyserg sat there and thought. What if things were different? What if his parents were still alive? Would he be where he is now? Would he have met the X-laws? What if Hao never existed! That would have made life easier Lyserg thought. But he then though about what if he was with Tamao.

"Yes, I would." Lyserg said. Tamao blushed.

"Oh my…" Tamao muttered. She continued to blush and she hugged Lyserg, which was quite a surprise to him. "Thank you! I never heard that from anyone…well…anyone but Hao." Tamao cried again. Lyserg accepted the hug and put her arms around her. "Before then I thought no one cared about me. I thought I was alone…" Tamao continued to cry.

Lyserg began to recall his own childhood. He was more like Tamao than he ever thought he was. He could remember the nights he sat there crying in his bed, wondering if anyone cared about the little crying boy. He had Morphine with him so that helped him through. Tamao wiped away another tear and returned to her original position. "I'm sorry about…It's just…" Tamao stuttered. Then Lyserg put his hand on her shoulder. She stopped when she left it there. Lyserg was looking at her concerned for her.

"Hey, no problem." He said. Tamao smiled and leaned back on the grass. Lyserg leaned back and looked at the countless starts. Literally the countless stars. There were big ones, yellow ones, white ones, red ones, small ones, bright ones, and dim ones. He turned his head toward Tamao. She too was looking at the stars.

"So Lyserg, are you really in love with me, or is there another?" Tamao asked still looking at the stars.

"Yeah…Macchi." Lyserg said without hesitation. Tamao turned over facing toward Lyserg.

"Really? So why do love her?" Tamao asked. Lyserg was surprised she didn't say 'What! Her! That she-devil!', but she was engaged with Hao, the one person he recalled as both of their worst enemies.

"I…I really don't know. I just do. I just like being around her." Lyserg answered. He never thought about why about he did. It just seemed to all happen in one day. Tamao nodded and smiled.

"Your reasons are very unselfish, just like mine with Hao." Tamao said almost hinting what she was suggesting. Lyserg got up and looked at the forest.

"Tamao…I'm sorry I have to cut this…date short, but I need to tell Macchi something." Lyserg said determined. He began to get up, but Tamao held him to the ground. He wondered what she wanted to tell him.

"Lyserg…good luck and be yourself." Tamao said. Lyserg nodded and ran out the main entrance into the forest. Tamao smiled as she saw Lyserg pursing his own dreams. Tamao leaned back and simply stared into the stars, hoping they could tell her what would happen next.


	11. Chapter 11

Well...this is it. The final chapter of my long epilogue. So here's the final chapter to our story...

OH! BUT! One least thing, I have one final chapter, the extra. So after this you can stop reading here, or you could go on...once I get my next chapter up and you finish reading ...

Chapter 11

"What do mean the Hanagumi? We were all dead!" Macchi yelled back. Hao threw another stone out on the water.

"When you three died, I absorbed your power." Hao said scornfully. He slammed his fist into the rock. "I was terribly selfish. I could have revived you, but I then met Tamao." Hao said. Macchi began to recall what all thathad happened.

"So I was in your body with Kanna and Mari for a…year!" Macchi said shocked. The simple thought alone made her shiver.Being THAT close to Mari was scary enough.

"Yes, and then the night you were revived, I was asleep. Somehow, you three got out of me. I quickly gave chase. When I found you three…it was the most speculator sight." Hao said in awe. Macchi could imagine Kanna had set up a water balloon and Mari had a whoopee cushion ready to break Hao's fall. "Mari and Kanna…they gave used up all their power to make you a body and your soul entered it. I tried to stop them, but they persisted. They said they wanted you to live a happy life and they took away all your memories. All the bad ones at least. They wanted you to live a guilt-free life. I tried to tell them I was engaged, but it was too late." Hao said. Macchi began to cry quietly. She didn't want Hao to know that she was a bit of a crybaby at times.

"Those jerks. Here they go reviving me and I don't get to say goodbye." Macchi cried. A smile broke through the tears. Hao got up and sat by Macchi.

"And I can only guess what you'll say next." Hao predicted. Macchi squeezed Hao. She continued cry in his arms.

"Hao, I love you. I really, really do." Macchi cried. Hao pushed Macchi back to look into her eyes.

"I know you do. I loved you ever since I met you." Hao said. When he said that Macchi got up andpointed right in his face.

"A-ha! You forgot your promise!" Macchi caught him. Hao was confused as well as shocked. "Don't you remember…when I was six?" Macchi said as she began to sit down again.

"Oh yeah…I remember it perfectly…" Hao said.

Little Macchi continued to lean against the wall in the old torn blanket. Mommy and daddy were dead. They were in the other room lying on the floor, blood spilled all over the place. Macchi began to cry once again as she gripped her torn doll. A dark figure appeared before her. It began to walk toward her. Macchi huddled tighter in her blanket, afraid it was here to take her away. The figure turned out to be a boy, no older than her. He bent down and smiled.

"Why hello there. Are you alone?" The boy asked. His long brown hair was touching the floor. Even her hair wasn't that long. Little Macchi looked up with puppy-dog eyes and nodded. Hao offered out his hand. "Why don't you come with me?" The boy proposed. The girl turned away from him gripping her doll. She had her eyes closed and cried even harder.

"I can't…I don't want to live." Macchi said, yetHao only got closer to the little girl.

"Why don't you want to live? I could make you happy." The boy tried to persuade her, butMacchi didn't budge. "Do you know about the Shaman King?" The boy asked. The little girl nodded. "Well, does a King need a queen?" The boy asked next to her. The girl looked at the boy. "Would youwant to be my queen?" The boy asked, offered out his hand once more. Macchi took his hand and he pulled her up. "You must have a beautiful name since you will be my queen. What is your name?" The boy asked her. Macchi giggled.

"Matilda, but you can call me Mati." The little girl beamed.

"I am Hao, Asakura Hao." Hao introduced himself. He kissed her hand. "You have such a beautiful name for such a beautiful queen." Hao continued to praise. The little girl hit in the gut just for fun. Hao braced from the impact. He could feel the pain soared through his body. This little girl wasn't any girly princess by any means.

"Stop it. You don't need to call me your queen." Macchi said...

Hao blushed and was sweating. "Um…well what you know. I guess I did promise you." Hao said frightened.

"See, I told you." Macchi taunted him. Hao threw another stone into the lake with that previous emotion erased.

"Macchi, I can't keep that promise. I didn't become the King, I let you down." Hao said. Macchi put her arms around him, just like the first night she was revived.

"Hao, I don't care about that anymore. I want to be with you." Macchi said. She began to squeezed tighter and tighter. "I only wanted to be with you. I didn't care if you became King. Well…ok I did care, but it didn't matter to me as much." Macchi said. Hao put his hand on hers. It was covering his heart again. He could feel her sorrow and pain.

"I'm sorry, but I can't." Hao said. He got up and shook off her arms. Macchi got up quickly after him.

"But why?" Macchi whined. Hao looked back at Macchi. When he turned he was only an inch for her face.

"I'm sorry. People changed, I changed. I fell in love with Tamao." Hao whispered. Macchi pouted again.

"But you can break up with her! You are only engaged. You haven't made your vows and got hitched yet!" Macchi complained. Hao put his hands on her shoulders. Macchi got a strange feeling inside of her.

"Macchi, I don't want you to take this wrong way, but there is nothing I can do. I have choose my path." Hao whispered. "But there was something I've always wanted to do." Hao met her lips in a kiss. Macchi was a bit shock at first, seeing that her dream was really a vision, but something wasn't right. It didn't feel the same, there was no fire, no real passion. It was a wet kiss. Hao backed away and relieved. "I'm sorry, but it has to be this way." Hao said. He glided his fingers through her hair one last time and left her. Macchi grabbed his arm.

"Hao, I don't it to be this way…" Macchi said. When Macchi saw his face, she gaped. Hao was crying. Tears poured down his face and he was trying to hold in his anguish.

"I'm sorry." Hao continued to cry. He quickly broke away from Macchi's grip. 'It had to be this way.' Hao thought. 'There was no other way.'

Lyserg walked through the dark forest. He liked it much more when there was moonlight, and a lot of it. He was afraid a shadow would pop out and grab him, pulling him into the darkness. He passed the scarred rock, a marker that meant Lyserg just had to go straight from there. Lyserg had to feel the rest of the way through the forest.

Hao had left five minutes before Lyserg had even entered the forest, so a confrontation with him would be out of the question. When he reached the lake he was quite surprised how much moonlight covered the lake, but then again what was he to expect from a hollowed out area in a forest.

He looked around to see if anyone was there. He was expecting Hao and Macchi to be in the lake, making out and being doing something he didn't want to envision, but no one was there. He stepped closer to the shoreline and walked its perimeter. He looked both ways to see if anyone was there. He reached that same spot he went to fume one day. He sat down on that same rock and skipped a stone.

He thought he heard someone crying, but it could have been the wind. Lyserg threw another skipped another stone into the lake, thinking of what he would say to Macchi. This time he heard a whimpered 'why'. Lyserg got up to investigate the sound.

He looked down at the ground, hoping he could find some footprints. The ground was dry, but there where some footprints that continued to head pass the rock, ones he didn't make. He followed the trail of where he thought this mysterious person be. He heard the crying once again, it sounded like a girl was crying. He was quite sure it was Macchi. He began to look around the trees because she was clearly not on the shoreline. He finally found her behind an old ash tree. She was huddled in a ball, her face buried into her arms. She continued to cry, Lyserg could hear her sniffling and pouting. He sat right next to her.

"Hey, is everything ok?" Lyserg asked. Macchi continued to cry until she answered.

"No…" Macchi mumbled. She continued to cry after answering. Lyserg thought he knew the reason, but just be to safe he would ask.

"So I guess Hao said 'no'." Lyserg said. He looked at Macchi hoping she would pull out of this depressive. She nodded slightly and went back to crying. Lyserg put his arm around hoping it would do something and it did.

Macchi quickly wrapped her arms around his chest and squeezed so tight Lyserg thought he could die from the pressure. She continued to cry, her tears running down and falling on his tux shirt. Lyserg blushed uncontrollably once again. He feared he would never be used to women. Macchi's crying began to stop. She squeezed tighter once and loosened her grip. She laid her head on Lyserg's lap.

Lyserg tried to think of what to do. All he knew was he had to help her through like she did for him. His hands fretted as he reached down. He didn't want to ruin this jewel that lay in his lap. His hand finally jolted against his will and brought her head closer to him.

Macchi eye's brimmed with tears.

She was changed, a side that no one had seen besides her mother when she was young. Macchi hated to cry, it made her feel weak, it made feel inferior to everyone else. She wanted to be strong, she wanted to show everyone what she could be, but she had to accept her faults. She then went into full tears once again. Lyserg moved her head so she could cry on his plaid over shirt. He didn't mind it, he hadanother five in stock and it was just water.

"Lyserg…" Macchi said, her voice was shaking and scarred. Scarred of change of what would happen next. "I love you…" She meek. "I really, really, really, really do." She continued to cry. She gripped his shirt and tugged on it. "But you hate me and I know it!" She cried.

Lyserg opened his mouth, but nothing came out or could. "I've killed your friends, I've killed others, I tried to kill you! How could love me? I'm a monster!" She screamed with sobs inbetween. Lyserg knew he had to say something. Maybe this was what she meant by over-flowing. "Leave me…I don't deserve to even live." She said. "I want to die. I want to die! I have to!" She screamed. Lyserg began to shake Macchi.

"Macchi! Get a hold of yourself! How do you know this?" Lyserg asked. Macchi threw herself the other way, away from Lyserg.

"I made myself remember. I made myself remember killing the X-laws, I remember trying to kill Tamao, and I remember just death! Death surrounds me. You have to kill me." Macchi cried. Lyserg tried to hold her hand, but she sealed it away from him. "I don't deserve to live. I don't deserve to live…" And Macchi continued to repeat that phrase. Lyserg grabbed her and turned her around.

"Macchi, stop it!" Lyserg yelled in her face. She continued to whimper after he yelled. After he realized what he did his grip loosened. "Macchi I'm sorry…" Lyserg said, but Macchi escaped and scurried away. Macchi was frightened. She wasn't the Macchi we all know. It was her inner self, her conscience speaking out, the purest essence of all her bottled up feelings coming out like a geyser.

"See, you hate me. I don't care what do with me. You can tie my up and have me drown. Or you can bind me and rape me. Or you could just shoot me, please just kill me." Macchi cried. Lyserg was shocked, completely. She had done off the deep end and he didn't know what to do. He remembered his storms about Hao. A normal storm could have last an hour or up to a week. Macchi's could probably go on for the rest of her life, or of what could remained of it.

Lyserg only knew one solution, and killing her was out of the question.

"Macchi I want to tell you something." Lyserg pleaded. Macchi continued to press against the adjacent tree.

"Go ahead. Tell me you hate me. I know you do. Tell me how you resent me! Let it all out before I die. Tell me…" Macchi cried, but her last sentence was cut short. Lyserg's gun lay on the ground. Lyserg had kissed Macchi. Macchi was confused and pushed him away. "D-don't that! I am monster. No, I'm a demon and you have to kill demons!" Macchi made an excuse. Lyserg shook his head.

"You're not a monster and you're defiantly not a demon. You are a woman, a very beautiful one. One that I wouldwant to spend the rest of my life with." Lyserg said. Macchi continued to move away from him, waiting for the moment she would escape. "Macchi…I love you." Lyserg said. A few tears trickled down his face. Macchi shook her head.

"Impossible! You can't love me!" Macchi continued to defend her views. Lyserg felt like this would go on till morning. He was going to try something. Something he may regret later.

"Ok, I will kill you, but on one condition. If you think I don't love you, I'll kill you." Lyserg proposed. Macchi nodded and approached him. Lyserg hid his gun in the tree's trunk, hoping he wouldn't need it. Macchi was at his knees.

"Ok I don't love you, so kill me." Macchi said without missing a beat. Lyserg shook his head.

"It won't be that easy. You have to go through my tests. Only then will I kill you." Lyserg explained, having a large amount of doubt riding on his heart. This allowed him to make the tests as long as he wanted. He just hoped she come through by the end. Macchi nodded in agreement to the rules.

"So what is the first test?" Macchi eagerly asked, eagerly to kill herself. Lyserg acted like he was thinking. The first test be easy for her.

"Kissing." Lyserg said. Macchi gave him a quick kiss and raced away.

"Ok, we passed that." Macchi said quite quickly.

"No not like that, let me show you." Lyserg. He closed his eyes hoping he do everything right. He continued to slowly move forward while Macchi remained perfectly still.

It seemed like eternity until finally Lyserg felt her lips. They weren't closed. They were slightly opened. Lyserg continued to press forward and put his hand behind her head, not allowing her to escape. Ever since he first kissed Macchi he would first get this butterfly feeling in his stomach. Then it would move upward into his chest and then finally his mouth. From there it turned into sugar and went back down and continued to cycle like that. However, he knew he wasn't tasting sugar and it didn't even taste like sugar, but it sweet and so kind. He could feel Macchi in every moment. He moved away after what he thought was a minute. He opened his eyes to see Macchi's response. She looked surprised, shocked that she could feel such emotions.

"So that's it, now it your tur…" Lyserg said, but before he finished Macchi was already in a deadlock kiss. Lyserg was shocked as her momentum pressed him against the tree. Lyserg timed the kissed, shocked on how long it was lasting. Macchi was trying to put her tongue in his mouth, but Lyserg was still grossed out by such a thought. Two minutes had passed and Macchi still hadn't gave up. Then she pressed him onto the ground. Now Lyserg was worried about his plaid over shirt. He knew dirt didn't come out very well.

"Now let me test you." Macchi said, still in a meek voice, but it wasn't like before. She first began to unbutton his shirt. Once removed Macchi glided her hand across his chest. She then laid on him and began to untie his bow tie and loosen that plaid over shirt. Lyserg knew he was once again blushing, plus he was sweating. Stanfing up on her knees and took off her pink tee and removed her scrunchy letting her hair hang down freely. She glissaded her finger across his chin. "Sex…" Macchi whispered. Lyserg knew he was now regretting his choice.

'Man, now I've caused her over-flow the other way!' Lyserg screamed in his mind. He sighed to himself. 'Well, I'll do this for Macchi…for her…' He thought before the final moment were all virginty would be no doubt lost.

"PSYCH!" Macchi blurted out. She rolled over laughing. "Oh…oh that was soooooo good. You should have seen the look on your face. You really thought I sleep with you. Oh that's good." Macchi laughed. Lyserg got up and fasten his bow tie.

"Macchi! Have you been playing this game the whole time?" Lyserg asked. Macchi tried to stop her laughing, but there was still a light chuckle in her voice.

"No, until you kissed, I was totally serious. You don't know how unwanted I felt." Macchi said. "I thought no one loved me, not even Hao after he broke the news. I got a bloody wicked plan for revenge!" Macchi smiled. "So you really love me?" Macchi asked pressing herself more toward Lyserg. Lyserg's anger quickly turned back into butterflies and worries.

"Well…yeah." Lyserg answered. Macchi's smiled beamed even more.

"So we both love each other. Wanna go out on a date later?" Macchi asked.

"Sure." Lyserg quickly answered. He got up and brushed off the dirt. "So where you want to go?" He asked. Macchi pulled him back down to the ground.

"Right here." She said. Lyserg got the willies again. "No one is here…so…do you want to…" Macchi and then began to giggled. "This bra is sooo tight." Macchi over exaggerated, "It be so nice if I could just…take it off." Macchi said. She began to remove her back strap. Lyserg bit his lip and would move onto his new non-virgin state. Macchi showed both back straps. Lyserg prepared for the best time in his life, or maybe even the worst. She slowly began to lift up. Lyserg could see the skin in what he considered a forbidden area for his eyes. Macchi threw the black bra off revealing a white one underneath.

"Double psych!" Macchi laughed again.

"Macchi quit doing this! You causing me to…" Lyserg said scornfully, but a finger closed his mouth.

"I'm sorry about that." Macchi apologized. She leaned on Lyserg's chest. "I just want to be with you." She said. Lyserg smiled and brought her in closer. "Oh…just for F.Y.I., I have no panties on." Macchi giggled. Lyserg backed away digested.

"Macchi! I didn't need to know that." Lyserg said. Macchi continued to chuckle.

"Well…if you wanna, I'm always ready." Macchi said as she put back on her pink tee. She positioned her head back on his chest. "I just want to be with you, forever." Macchi said. Lyserg smiled back and rubbed her hair.

"And I promise I'll always there for you, Matilda." Lyserg said. They sat the rest of the night, talking about things. They talked about pointless things, meaningful things, interests, and hatreds and then again...mainly pointless things. They stayed there and spent the entirenight there.

Hao walked back into the mansion and went to his room. Tamao was already in bed waiting.

"I guess we had to break it to them both." Tamao sighed. Hao nodded. He slipped in with his sweet.

"Yeah…I guess we both did." Hao sighed as well. Tamao grasped her arm and kissed him lightly on the cheek. Hao returned the kiss on her lips. "But I have no regrets…do you?" Hao asked. Tamao shook her head. Hao nodded and went to sleep. 'Maybe it was for the best, but I'll always to true to you Tamao.' Hao thought as he went to sleep.

The morning sun burned Lyserg's eyes. He awoke to find Macchi no where to be found, and the pink tee was on the ground, as well as the white bra. He looked around to see her bathing in the lake. All he saw was her back, but for reasons he acted like he still had his eyes closed. He opened his eyes back up when Macchi yelled at him.

"Hey sleepy-head. How ar u?" Macchi said in baby talk. Lyserg shook his head and smiled.

"I'm fine." Lyserg answered. Macchi had put the tee back on and the jeans.

"So did you peek?" Macchi asked him, her tone was still happy.

"Yeah, I did." Lyserg answered. Macchi giggled.

"Oh you did, so did you have seconds thoughts about…"

"No! I'm not like that!"

"Come on! You had too!"

"Nope, none."

"Oh, you're no fun." Macchi pushed him aside. Both laughed for a while, they didn't know why. Macchi leaned back on Lyserg's shoulder. "I thought about something last night." Macchi said.

"What?" Lyserg curiously asked.

"Matilda Diethel…I think it has a nice ring." Macchi said. Lyserg looked at curiously.

"You really thing so?" He asked. Macchi nodded.

"Sure. I thought Derrick be a good name too. That or Stephanie." Macchi continued.

"Derrick? Stephanie? Were not even married and your already thinking about kids?" Lyserg said surprised. Macchi shrugged and smiled.

"Sure. I had nothing better to do." She beamed.

"So anyway, want to do something?" Lyserg asked.

"No…I'll think of something later." Macchi smiled. "But let's head back." Macchi said. They both walked back to the mention to continue on from the choices they made. Macchi locked hands with Lyserg as they walked. She knew Lyserg would freak, but he actually he didn't. He had become completely use to her. Macchi smiled.

'Lyserg…I love you, and I know that for a fact.'


	12. Epilogue

Aw...finally. The conclusion to our story. Well, I admit it was fun doing this project and know my task is complete . So let's finish this story with the..

Epilogue

A year had passed from that fateful day. The day that changed both their lives. At first it was small dates to a café or a movie theater, it then turned into a long-term relationship, and six months later, Lyserg proposed to Macchi. Both thought this relationship was unreal. They fell in love in just a week and now proposed seven months later. It seemed like a Hollywood relationship, but they persisted. As a little project to strength them they wrote a book.

_A 101 Ways to Fall in Love in Less than a Week!_

_By: Lyserg & Matilda Diethel _

_50 pound, in meat or money_

The duo's book was a best seller, quickly over shadowing the book Macchi purchased seven months ago. They planned for their wedding day. Macchi, much to her despise, had Tamao to help her, and Lyserg best man was none other than faithful Marco. Lyserg had contacted Marco a few days after the proposal and Marco volunteered to be his best man.

And for any of you who were wondering about the book by J.K. Jokin. Well, a huge group gathered outside his office one day, rebelling that the book was false and should be banned. The group was lead by Pilica, with her failure with the book along with a thousand others. The poor author was stuck in his office for a week. The only thing revolt caused was police reports, firemen had to settle the riot, and caused a lot trouble in Britain, just as Yoh predicted, a very _lucky_ guess indeed. Later his book was banned from several bookstores and schools. Eventually J.K. Jokin went to join the Lord of the Rings fan club and wrote another book explaining the symbols and allusions used to World War I and other stories. A very good book and got back some fame. As for Pilica, she tried to Ren all over again with Macchi's book and they got engaged and then…well I'll save that one for a better day.

The day of the wedding…

Lyserg tie his bow tie nice and tight, making sure everything was just right. He looked at the clock, it was ten past four and twenty more minutes till the moment of his life. Marco tightened his bow tie one last time, for good luck's sake. As both prepared for this young man's sake. And I, the author, really must not write such dumb lines.

"So tell me, who is this Matilda?" Marco asked. Lyserg smiled as he pulled out his locket.

"She has be to the kindest, funniest, most caring person I've been around in my life. Ever since I met her, I though maybe this day would come." Lyserg said.

"Are you nervous?" Morphine said popping out of his pocket.

"Well, of course! I know I could just faint right now, but I won't." Lyserg said. Marco rubbed his young partner's shoulder.

'He certainly has grown into a fine young man.' Marco thought. The door opened and Faust entered the room with an antique box.

"Guttentaugh." Faust said. Lyserg was use to this greeting by him. "I thought I give you something, before your big moment." Faust said. He opened the box to reveal two rings. One was a simple gold ring with engravings of Lyserg's name and another was a beautiful ring fitted with a diamond. Lyserg thought it was a nice gift, enough though he had already got the ring but it wasn't as big as those two, then noticed Faust's ring finger. The ring of his dear Eliza wasn't there or his own.

"Faust…you didn't…" Lyserg said. Faust gave both rings to Lyserg.

"Yes, I think it was time for me to part from those two rings. I figured why not pass on my legacy then giving those rings to you." Faust said.

"Faust…thank you so much." Lyserg bowed. Faust bowed in return and smiled at to groom to be.

"Well, good luck." Faust wished him. Faust left the room with the door cracked. Shortly after he left, Lyserg sneezed.

"Gazutaik." He said.

"Now all we have to pull this and…" Tamao said as she pulled the last string to tightened Macchi's dress. Macchi almost choked when Tamao did pull the strings. Tamao tossed the dress around one last time. "There. You look absolutely beautiful." Tamao commented. Macchi smiled as well, but something was on her mind.

"Hey, Tamao." The name still had a sting whenever Macchi said it. "Were you nervous on your wedding day?" She asked.

"Why, of course. I was so nervous I though I would faint." Tamao said.

"Ok, cause I feel like I'm going faint then die." Macchi joked. Both laughed for a second. "Oh also…I need to forgive youfor some stuff." Macchi said.

"Sure what is it?" Tamao asked.

"Well…first I almost put you out with a sleep dart, then I stole your credit card and spent like a hundred bucks on it. From there I then…put a hex on you and then…" The list continued on and on, each making Tamao's gape bigger and bigger.

"You did all that!" Tamao asked her. Macchi gulped and nodded. Tamao broke a smile. "Oh well, all is forgive, besides we're friends now." Tamao said. She looked at the clock. Ten minutes till the big moment. "Well I better be off." Tamao said. Macchi nodded and Tamao left the room. Macchi looked at herself in the mirror. She sighed one last time.

"Ok. Jack, any last comments?" Macchi asked the doll. The doll was in a tux still smiling ghoulish. "Well…you don't count, there is no bad luck, but you think so?" Macchi said. "You really think he do that?" She asked the doll. The doll remained motionless. She shrugged. "Eh, guess so." Macchi looked at the clock, waiting for the right time.

Lyserg waited on the altar, all his friends in the seats. Even some of his fans paid tribute to his wedding. The clock struck four thirty. The wedding song began to play. The doors opened revealing the beautiful snow white Matilda.

"Wow! That's her?" Marco asked.

"Yeah, gorgeous, isn't she?" Lyserg whispered back. As she came closer Marco made out her face.

"No way…that's Macchi of the Hanagumi!" Marco said. Marco began to pull out his gun.

"No Marco…" Lyserg tried to stop him, but it was too late. The gun was fired and the bullets whizzed pass her head. "No, she's my bride…" Lyserg said. Macchi pointed at Marco and laughed.

"Ha! I knew you do that!" Macchi taunted him

'Yep, just like Macchi.' Everyone thought. Marco was totally in embarrassed and in shame. The two's wedding was remember forever for Marco's performance.

"And then mommy and daddy moved to this house a month after the wedding. We then had our little princess Stephanie a year after and Prince Derrick three years later. And that's how Mommy and Daddy got together." 25 year-old Macchi finished her story. Little Stephanie looked at her mother shocked. Stephanie had almost every feature of her mother with her hair and her attitude, but she had brown eyes.

"Wow…that was one loooonnnngggg bedtime story." Stephanie said. "Can I have pigtails like you did?" Stephanie asked eagerly.

"Of course you can, but you need to go to sleep. You start school tomorrow." Macchi said. Stephanie nodded and went to sleep. Macchi walked over to the door and shut off the light. "Nighty night." Macchi said and she shut the door behind her. Stephanie held Jack tightly under her arm, dreaming sweetly of the story mommy told her. Jack continued to grin with that ghoulish grin, protecting his new master. Lyserg was in bed already. He tucked in Derrick much faster than Macchi because of the story. Macchi slipped in with Lyserg once she got her nightgown on.

"Long story tonight?" Lyserg asked her. Macchi nodded as she flipped through the news.

"Yep, gave her the life story of me and you." Macchi beamed. Lyserg shook his head.

"You told her the whole thing? No wonder you took so long." Lyserg said.

"Well, she was asking me about it for three weeks. I figured I lether know the truth." Macchi said. Lyserg turned off his lamp.

"So how much did you leave out?" Lyserg asked.

"Well nothing really, besides the one night where we…you know." Macchi said.

"Ok, was that the night at the lake or the night at the honeymoon?" Lyserg asked.

"Both."

"Macchi I'm quite sure we didn't do it the night at the lake."

"Ok, but admit you 'thought' about it."

"Ok…I did."

"Hey, you worried about Stephanie going to school tomorrow?"

"No, not at I have a special someone to look after her." Lyserg chuckled to himself.

"Ok, be a good girl today, cause Morphine is watching you." Macchi warned Stephanie. Stephanie waved back to the car.

"Ok, I'll be good mommy." Stephanie said. Morphine grumbled to herself. How did she get into this? She thought having a kid be all fun and games, well it certainly wasn't. Macchi drove back to the house with Derrick in the car. Lyserg had already gone off to work at the police station. Her cell phone rang.

"Hello…oh hey Tamao!….Oh he's also going here?…Cool….well I bet Stephanie will find him…ok….seeya….bye." Macchi talked on the phone. She stopped at the stoplight and turned to Derrick.

"That was Auntie Tamao. She said Kira is with Stephanie today. You want to play with Eiko?" She asked him. Derrick had short green hair like his father, but purple eyes like his mother. He was old enough to make a decision and shook his head. "You sure? Eiko is a lot of fun." Macchi asked again. Derrick was quite sure. He always got the willies when he was around Eiko.

Stephanie went directly to her classroom, room E-8. Mommy showed her the way during open house. Stephanie opened the door to see who was there. There were no other spirits in the classroom, a bunch of non-shamans so Morphine would have to remain a secret, but one person caught her eye. She bolted over to the boy alone in the corner desk.

"Hey there,Hao." Stephanie beamed with energy. The boy looked up, he did looked like Hao with his bangs, but his hair was far shorter and almost proper.

"Hao…that's my father's name." The boy said. Stephanie felt so embarrassed realizing she wasn't suppose to call the boy that.

"Oh…sorry. I'm Stephanie Diethel." She beamed with energy.

"Kira, Kira Asakura." The boy introduced himself. From there they both quickly became best friends and then in high school they went even further and started to date and then something happened that truly tested them. It all started with the…well I guess that story is best left for another day, for another time, so for now…it seems like my mission has been complete. And that, my friends, is the story of Lyserg and Macchi who lived happily ever after…or close enoughto it .


	13. Alternate Chapter

Ok, requested by both Kiyuu-chan and a recent poster, I decided to make an alternate ending. I admit, this WAS the original ending, if everything went as it was planned. But as things moved on, I realized more and more that this ending would destroy everything I wanted to say. It would had ruined my message and so the original ending was made. Besides ! Macchi looks so much cuter with Lyserg . So here's the...

Alternate Ending

"What do mean the Hanagumi? We were all dead!" Macchi yelled back. Hao threw another stone out on the water.  
"When you three died, I absorbed your power." Hao said scornfully. He slammed his fist into the rock. "I was terribly selfish. I could have revived you, but I then met Tamao." Hao said. Macchi began to recall what all has happened. "So I was in your body with Kanna and Mari for a…year!" Macchi said shocked. The simple thought alone made her shiver.  
"Yes, and then the night you were revived, I was asleep. Somehow, you three got out of me. I quickly gave chase. When I found you three…it was the most speculator sight." Hao said in awe. Macchi could imagine Kanna had set up a water balloon and Mari had a whoopee cushion ready to break Hao's fall. "Mari and Kanna…they gave used up all their power to make you a body and your soul entered it. I tried to stop them, but they persisted. They said they wanted you to live a happy life and they took away all your memories. All the bad ones at least. They wanted you to live a guilt-free life. I tried to tell them I was engaged, but it was too late." Hao said. Macchi began to cry.  
"Those jerks. Here they go reviving me and I don't get to say goodbye." Macchi cried. A smile broke through the tears. Hao got up and sat by Macchi. "And I can only guess what you'll say next." Hao predicted. Macchi squeezed Hao. She continued cry in his arms.  
"Hao, I love you. I really, really do." Macchi cried. Hao pushed Macchi back to look into her eyes.  
"I know you do. I loved you ever since I met you." Hao said. When he said that Macchi got up and pointed right in his face.  
"A-ha! You forgot your promise!" Macchi caught him. Hao was confused as well as shocked. "Don't you remember…when I was six?" Macchi said as she began to sit down again.  
"Oh yeah…I remember it perfectly…" Hao said.

Little Macchi continued to lean against the wall in the old torn blanket. Mommy and daddy were dead. They were in the other room lying on the floor, blood spilled all over the place. Macchi began to cry once again as she gripped her torn doll. A dark figure appeared before her. It began to walk toward her. Macchi huddled tighter in her blanket, afraid it was here to take her away. The figure turned out to be a boy, no older than her. He bent down and smiled.  
"Why hello there. Are you alone?" The boy asked. His long brown hair was touching the floor. Even her hair wasn't that long. Little Macchi looked up with puppy-dog eyes and nodded. Hao offered out his hand. "Why don't you come with me?" The boy proposed. The girl turned away from him gripping her doll. She had her eyes closed and was crying. "I can't…I don't want to live." Macchi said. Hao only got closer to the little girl. "Why don't you want to live? I could make you happy." The boy tried to persuade her. Macchi didn't budge. "Do you know about the Shaman King?" The boy asked. The little girl nodded. "Well, does a King need a queen?" The boy asked. The girl looked at the boy. "Would want to be my queen?" The boy asked. He offered out his hand once more. Macchi took his hand and he pulled her up. "You must have a beautiful name since you will be my queen. What is your name?" The boy asked her. Macchi giggled.  
"Matilda, but you can call me Mati." The little girl beamed.  
"I am Hao, Asakura Hao." Hao introduced himself. He kissed her hand. "You have such a beautiful name for such a beautiful queen." Hao continued to praise. The little girl hit in the gut. Hao braced from the impact. He could feel the pain soared through his body. This little girl wasn't any girly princess by any means. "Stop it. You don' need to call me your queen." Macchi said.

Hao stopped, literally stopped. "Did...did I really say that?" Hao said, almost speaking to himself. Macchi lightly grabbed his arm.  
"See..." Macchi said in the softest voice she could use, "Now you why I've always loved you." She answered, squeezing even harder on his arm. Hao nearly fainted and fell to the ground.  
"Wh...What have I done?" He asked himself, shocked. He couldn't believe he betrayed Macchi like that? "Macchi...what can I do now?" He asked himself. Macchi kneeled beside and held his hand.  
"You'll...you'll have to break up with Tamao." Macchi sadly said, "Look I know its going to be hard...well...not really. You could just make help some weird mistake, like you have to go up to the mountains and you'll never see her or something that may work." She radically suggested.  
"You're right..." Hao had said, and looked into Macchi's purple eyes. "I do...love you." And with those word that barely escaped his mouth, he had kissed Macchi.  
Now, Macchi was shocked, no doubt. Everything in her dream was coming true. She felt that burning passion within her heart. She every part of that kiss, not wanting to let do. Sadly, as always, the parting was of sweet sorrow, but something was different. There was no absence in her heart; she still felt Hao's passion deep within her heart.  
"Hao..." Macchi said breathless and locked kisses with Hao once more. Her heart wasn't lying. Sadly, Lyserg was not her true love, and never would be. She was destined for Hao, and nothing could stop either of them.

Lyserg came dashing into the forest. He had to tell Macchi that he loved her. He simply had to! He came upon the lake but Macchi was nowhere to be found. He frantically looked around for her. Nothing! And then Lyserg saw the footsteps back to the mansion.  
But what Lyserg found intriguing was the footsteps where made by a pair. He sighed to himself, it was all over. Macchi had fallen in love with Hao. He began to walk back, but then he realized.  
IF Hao did love Macchi, then Hao would have to cancel Tamao's marriage. He quickly sprinted back, only hoping he could make it in time.

"Hao, you don't have to do this." Macchi said holding his hand. They were a few feet away from the entrance. Hao gave one last sigh and entered the garden complex.

Tamao had been looking at the stars for quite some time. She was not perfect, but she swore the stars said good things were going to happen. Then, lightly, she heard footsteps. She got up from her relaxed position and smiled when she saw Hao coming back.  
"Hello, Hao. So...how was your 'date'?" Tamao asked sweetly, but Hao's dour look alerted her to something. "Hao is...is something wrong?" She said, trying to hold his hand, but he retracted it away. Something was defiantly wrong now!  
"Tamao...I..." Hao, stopping and looked into her eyes. "I...I love someone else." He said. Tamao was shocked, but who wouldn't be? She tried to get some sort of physical touch from him, but nothing worked.  
"Why?" She asked him, demanding the reason, but Tamao's voice wasn't the type that could be demanding.  
"Because...I found who I really love." Hao said, and began to walk away. "I'm sorry." Hao could hardly speak and went out of the mansion. Tamao stood their motionless. In just a mere second, she had lost the love of her life. She had lost everything. She wanted to say more, but she was too terrified to even speak out.  
Hao made his choice, and she had to respect it, no matter how much she hated it. Only after he leave was she able to react.  
The first thing she did was cry. She cried, and continued to cry. It started out as sniffs, sniffs that lead into small drips of tears, and then full-bloom crying. She was overcome with grief, a scar across her heart that could never be healed. She could no longer stand, and fell to the ground. She was hoping this was a nightmare, but it was real. Quite real.

Lyserg came running back was able to catch Macchi. He stopped right in front of her huffing. She turned around and looked down upon him.  
"Macchi..." Lyserg huffed, "I...I need to tell you something..." He got to his feet, but remained his distance from her, in case she was in love with Hao, and the moment she held hands with Hao, he understood everything. "Never mind..." He said and ran into the mansion.  
So it was true, Macchi had got Hao, just liked she planned from the beginning, but something didn't feel right about all this. He knew things could be better if this didn't happen, but how was he right?

Macchi grabbed Hao's arm and they both began to walk back to the sight she was first relived. They both sat down by the old campfire and Hao relit it. This time when Macchi leaned on his shoulder he accepted it, and rubbed her hair slowly.  
"Hao...did what we do was right?" She asked him, looking up into his eyes, smiling. Hao looked down on her and brought her closer.  
"What does your heart tell you?" He said, kissing her on the forehead. Macchi began to think and hugged closer to him.  
"I think I did..." She answered, and kissed his on the lips. They both sat their looking at the fire, wondering where life would lead them next.

Tamao looked into the pond, but her vision was blurry from the tears. She wanted to kill herself. There was no point in living anymore. Tamao took long last breath. She just wanted everything to end, and jumped into the pond.  
Tamao floated there, lifeless. She could feel her breath escaping her, her body began to numb, and her mind escaping her. At last, everything was going away. Then a hand pulled her out!  
"Tamao!" Lyserg yelled as she pulled her out. She wasn't breathing, but she had a pulse at least. Lyserg knew what to do and gave Rescue-breathing. A few seconds later, Tamao had coughed up the water that she swallowed. She looked up at the face that saved her y. "Tamao! Are you ok!" Lyserg began to shake her.  
"No...I'm not." She said, her muffled cries was all she could do, all her tears had left her. She slowly got up, but then she noticed that Lyserg was holding her hand lightly.  
"You know I love you." He said and held her close and allowed her to cry on his shoulder. She squeezed his shirt and leaned on him. "Everything will be ok..." He assured her, rubbing her hair.  
Lyserg was surprised how well he was handling all this. He hadn't stuttered once. "Thank you..." Tamao said in cries. She held him even closer than before. "Tamao...do you remember when you said you wondered if we were engaged?" He asked her. Tamao nodded slightly and looked up at Lyserg. "Do you...want to try?" He asked her. Tamao was so overcome; all she did was hug him tighter. Lyserg hugged back in response. It seemed like what both he and Macchi were doing to go did happen, and to make Tamao happy was the only thing that mattered to him now.

Macchi woke up the next morning. Hao was on that same blasted rock again. "What is it this time?" Macchi said to him. Hao turned around and smiled.  
"I dunno, just thinking we go to next." Hao said. Macchi got up from her sleep and walked over to him.  
"I always wanted to do back to London and raise..." And then Macchi stopped, "As long as we don't have any girly-girls...I can't stand them." She cringed. Hao smiled and brought her closer and rubbed her shoulder.  
"Alright, London it is." Hao said and they both walked to the airport.

Macchi looked up in Hao's eyes and smiled. "Hao...I love you, and that's a fact."


End file.
